Camp Borden was founded in 1916, training nearly fifty thousand soldiers for service in The Canadian Expeditionary Force. For many of those soldiers, their first action was during the Battle of Arras, and specifically the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
In 2016, Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden celebrated its centennial year, and through the enduring partnership of the Base, the City of Barrie and the surrounding communities, the Borden Legacy Park was erected to mark the occasion. The monument was unveiled on June 9 by Prime Minister Trudeau, with Mayor Leturque, Mayor of Arras, contributing to the ceremony. It was designed by Canadian artist and sculptor Marlene Hilton Moore.
The Borden Legacy Project began in 2014, and in June 2015, sacred soil was removed from the Battlefield at Vimy Ridge and patriated to Canada. This soil symbolically holds the DNA of all those fallen and wounded in the 1917 Battle.
The Borden Legacy Park has three distinct pieces that serve to commemorate CFB Borden's past and inspire the future. First, a forty-foot long and seven-foot high white and black granite wall, is a tribute and inspiration to each and every member of the Canadian Armed Forces that passes through the CFB Borden gates. A six-foot wide path separates the two sections of the wall to allow passage between. A berm directly behind the granite walls is meant to represent Vimy Ridge itself. The wall also encases an urn, in which the sacred soil is held. The promise of General Sir Arthur Currie to his troops is etched into the wall that holds the soil.
The second piece of the park is the restored First World War trenches that were used to train infantry soldiers before their departure to the Western Front. Connected to the Legacy Wall via a short wooded trail, these trenches are a reminder of the importance of training, and the conditions of the First World War.
The third piece is a Bronze Bugler stands in the park, calling to his companions, calling visitors to the monument, and calling to the now-empty trenches that once trained soldiers before they left for battle overseas.
To commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a second bugler was created and donated to the Vimy Foundation, to stand in the shadow of Walter Allward’s magnificent monument in France.
