Okotokians gathered downtown Saturday evening to honour and recognize the Canadian troops who fought in the battle of Vimy Ridge.

A special march through downtown took place and ended at the Cenotaph where wreaths were laid and a brief ceremony was had to commemorate the brave Canadian troops.

Chairman of Okotoks Branch 291, Malcolm Hughes says Canada was declared as a Nation on this day 99 years ago.

"We are here today officially to commemorate Vimy Day, the great battle of 1917, in which Canada was taught to become a nation. The Prime Minster that day said after that battle Canada now takes it's place among the other nations as it's equal."

Hughes says Birth of a Nation day is a day to be proud of, "they took the ridge and it opened up the way to the east to basically finish World War 1. So it was an absolute tremendous achievement and actually following it Canadian's were used as a mobile force more often then not, but they did a great job so we are proud to commemorate that."

Hughes says at that specific time these were achievements that the Canadian Army had never attained before.

"It's really important, Canadian's fighting for the first time as a separate army under their own command's, their own training. Basically something that had not been done. It took them three days and with a casualty list of 3,500 dead and 7,000 wounded that was considered well done because previous battles had seen much higher casualties for no gain whatsoever."

After the ceremony locals gathered on the corner of Elma Street joining the Okotoks Branch 291 in a special sign unveiling.

Centre Avenue was renamed to Veterans Way to honor all the brave Canadians that have served for our country.

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