It’s a time-honoured tradition in the nation’s capital. The Changing of the Guard is the summertime ceremony that takes place every morning in Ottawa.
As the Ceremonial Guard marches along the streets of downtown Ottawa toward Parliament Hill, crowds gather to take in the spectacle.
Shelly Cloak and her family travelled from Philadelphia to view the ceremony. “We’re waiting for the Changing of the Guard. I think it’s important to see something that has been around for a long time and just the history of it,” says Cloak.
Emma Marshall and her family are from New York State. They’re on a Canadian summer trip from Montreal to Toronto, and they decided to make a stop in Ottawa. “We’ve never seen this before,” says Marshall, “and we thought it would be really cool to see the ceremony.”
George and Mary Santulli are visiting from Virginia. A visit to Ottawa to witness the Changing of the Guard ceremony is an item on their bucket list. “It’s something we always head about,” says George. “It’s part of your culture, your history. We don’t have that in the United States. It’s nice that you continue to keep this history and tradition going.” Mary says, “We have (a ceremony) at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Memorial Cemetery, but it’s very solemn. I think this will be more celebratory.”
Every morning for most of the summer, the march starts from the Cartier Square Drill Hall, beside Ottawa City Hall, and arrives at 10 a.m. sharp at Parliament Hill. The colourful spectacle of pomp, pageantry, and music doesn’t only dazzle the crowd, but the Ceremonial Guard band members also enjoy the daily event.
Lt. Lucas Denneboom is the band’s Director of Music. He says, “This has been a dream of mine since I joined the Canadian Armed Forces. I actually started here as a musician in the band. I was a percussionist. I got to tell you, there’s no better feeling than being up there standing in front of all those musicians. It’s just a wonderful sound.”
Denneboom and Capt. Holly De Caigny, Assistant Director of Music, take turns conducting the band throughout the summer. De Caigny says, “I did Ceremonial Guard as a saxophone player in 2005 and 2008. Now, 16 years later, I’m back, and it’s still the same butterflies in your stomach. I think it’s a very important thing to make sure that the public sees our military out in the public and presenting free concerts and showing our gorgeous red tunics and everything.”
This summer, the ceremony will be scaled down from past years with about a dozen members performing in what the Ceremonial Guard is calling “Canada on the March.”
“The reason for the scaled down ceremony,” explains Denneboom, “is that the Canadian Armed Forces is extremely focused on training and reconstitution. We’re trying to grow our force, and we’re really focusing our efforts. This Changing of the Guard ceremony is a tradition that dates all the way back to actually 1959. So it’s extremely important to the Canadian Army, to the Canadian Armed Forces, that we keep this going. We are anticipating actually a full return to our full Changing of the Guard Ceremony as soon as we possibly can.”
Every Guardsman is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. Most of them are university and college student reserves, and each band member goes through extensive training to prepare for the summer heat. “We start well over a month before our first parade on Parliament Hill, which is usually around the 1st of July. The training phase is hard, but it’s also where everyone kind of cements their friendships because they live together and work together.”
The daily 30-minute concert is free to attend on Parliament Hill and runs every year from mid-June until mid-August.Â