Annex A: Multi-year themes and notable military milestones
2024
CAF Around the World - Africa
30th anniversary of the beginning of Canada’s participation in the United Nations Cambodia Mine Action Center (1 March 1994)
10th anniversary of the end of the Afghanistan mission (12 March 2014)
60th anniversary of the beginning of Canadian peacekeeping in Cyprus (15 March 1964)
100th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Canadian Air Force (1 April 2024)
30th anniversary of beginning of the Rwandan genocide and the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda (7 April 1994)
85th anniversary of the dedication of the National War Memorial (21 May 1939)
80th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy (6 June 1944)
30th anniversary of the end of Operation Python and Canadian participation in the UN peace support mission to Western Sahara (29 June 1994)
Dedication of the new Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Newfoundland National War Memorial in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, (1 July 2024)
50th anniversary of the shooting down of a CAF UN Buffalo aircraft in Syria which was the greatest single day loss of Canadian lives on a peacekeeping mission (9 August 1974)
National Peacekeepers’ Day (August 9)
70th anniversary of the beginning of Canada’s participation in the International Commissions for Supervision and Control in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (10 August 1954)
85th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic (3 September 1939)
80th anniversary of the Liberation of Belgium/Battle of the Scheldt (2 October – 8 November 1944)
Cyprus 2024: Veterans pilgrimage to Cyprus to mark the 50th anniversary of the defence of the Nicosia airport (November)
2025
CAF Around the World - The Americas (Caribbean and here at home)
20th anniversary of the CAF response to the Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004 that damaged much of the Ampara district of Sri Lanka (6 January 2005)
15th anniversary of the major earthquake in Haiti, resulting in CAF disaster assistance mission Operation Hestia (12 January 2010)
Invictus Games Vancouver/Whistler (9-16 February 2025)
110th anniversary of the 2nd Battle of Ypres and the Battle of St. Julien – Canada’s first major action in the First World War (22-25 April 1915)
110th anniversary of the writing of ‘In Flanders Fields’ (3 May 1915)
80th anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands (5 May 1945)
80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of the Atlantic (8 May 1945)
80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (V-E) Day (8 May 1945)
25th anniversary of Canada’s Unknown Soldier being laid to rest in a tomb in front of the National War Memorial in Ottawa (28 May 2000)
100th anniversary of the opening of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial by Field Marshal Earl Haig (7 June 1925)
National Peacekeepers’ Day (August 9)
65th anniversary of the beginning of Canada’s participation Opération des Nations unies au Congo (ONUC), the first major Canadian UN mission to the Congo (9 August 1960)
80th anniversary of Victory over Japan (V-J) Day (15 August 1945)
110th anniversary of Newfoundland Regiment landing in Gallipoli (19-20 September 1915)
85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain – 3rd Sunday of September (1940)
2026
CAF Around the World - Middle East
35th anniversary of end of the Gulf War (28 February 1991)
20th anniversary of end of large-scale Canadian peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights (24 March 2006)
75th anniversary of the Battle of Kapyong (22-25 April 1951)
25th anniversary of the end of Canada’s participation with the International Force in East Timor (14 May 2001)
110th anniversary of the Battle of Mont Sorrel (Hill 62) (2-13 June 1916)
25th anniversary of the end of Operation Eclipse, Canada’s participation in the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (11 June 2001)
110th anniversary of the beginning of the Battles of the Somme and Beaumont-Hamel (1 July 1916)
110th anniversary of the creation of No. 2 Construction Battalion (5 July 1916)
90th anniversary of the unveiling of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial (26 July 1936)
National Peacekeepers’ Day (August 9)
25th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks (11 September 2001)
25th anniversary of Canada’s military response in Southwest Asia and Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9-11 terrorist attacks (7 October 2001)
70th anniversary of the beginning of the first large-scale UN peacekeeping effort with the UN Emergency Force in Egypt (7 November 1956)
85th anniversary of the Defence of Hong Kong (8-25 December 1941)
2027
CAF Around the World - Europe (Western Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean)
35th anniversary of the beginning of Operation Marquis, Canada’s participation in the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (15 March 1992)
110th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge (9-12 April 1917)
35th anniversary of the beginning of large-scale Canadian participation in UN peacekeeping efforts in the former Yugoslavia (mid-April 1992)
30th anniversary of CAF response to the 1997 Red River Floods (April/May 1997)
125th anniversary of the end of the South African War (31 May 1902)
100th anniversary of the inauguration of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Belgium, which includes the names of 6,940 Canadians with no known graves (24 July 1927)
National Peacekeepers’ Day (August 9)
85th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942)
35th anniversary of the dedication of Reconciliation – the Peacekeeping Monument in Ottawa (8 October 1992)
70th anniversary of the announcement that Lester Pearson would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the creation of the United Nations Emergency Force in Egypt during the 1956 Suez Crisis (14 October 1957)
75th anniversary of Canadian soldiers seeing heavy action in the Defence of Hill 355 during the Korean War (23-24 October 1952)
110th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Passchendaele (10 November 1917)
110th anniversary of the Halifax explosion (6 December 1917)
2028
CAF Around the World - Asia
30th anniversary of Operation Recuperation in response to the 1998 Ice Storms in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick (4 January 1998)
55th anniversary of the end of CAF participation in International Commission for Supervision and Control (ICSC) efforts in Vietnam (29 January 1973)
80th anniversary of the UN Peacekeeping and International Day of UN Peacekeepers (May 29)
105th anniversary of the unveiling of the St. Julien Canadian Memorial – the Brooding Soldier (8 July 1923)
85th anniversary of the invasion of Sicily and the beginning of the Italian Campaign (10 July 1943)
75th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice (27 July 1953)
110th anniversary of the start of Canada’s Hundred Days (8 August – 11 November 1918)
National Peacekeepers’ Day (August 9)
30th anniversary of CAF response to Swissair Flight 111 (2 September 1998)
35th anniversary of the Battle of the Medak Pocket (15-16 September 1993)
40th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize being presented to UN Peacekeeping Forces (10 December 1988)
85th anniversary of the Battle of Ortona and Christmas in Ortona (20-28 December 1943)
