Coquitlam’s Remembrance Day is built around one parade and one cenotaph, and this year the city has added a set of things you can take part in beforehand rather than only watch.

The ceremony and parade are hosted by Coquitlam Royal Canadian Legion Branch 263, and anyone wishing to pay their respects is welcome.

“At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” — Royal Canadian Legion, Coquitlam Branch 263

The short version

When: Wednesday, November 11, 2026.
Parade: leaves Como Lake Middle School, 1121 King Albert Avenue, at approximately 10:30am and moves along Winslow Avenue.
Ceremony: Blue Mountain Park Cenotaph from approximately 11am.
Host: Coquitlam Royal Canadian Legion Branch 263.
Cost: free, and open to anyone who wishes to attend.
Veteran’s Way: poppy painting and remembrance messages along Veteran’s Way at Blue Mountain Park, November 2 to 10.
Getting there: both the school and the park sit off King Albert Avenue, a short walk from each other, so you can watch the parade arrive and stay for the service.

A civic war memorial surrounded by autumn maple trees

The parade

The parade forms at Como Lake Middle School at 1121 King Albert Avenue and steps off at approximately 10:30am, moving along Winslow Avenue toward the park. It is a short route, which makes it an easy one to bring children to: you can see it pass and still be at the cenotaph before the service begins.

If you only want the ceremony, be at Blue Mountain Park by about 10:50am. If you want the parade, position yourself on Winslow Avenue before half past ten.

A stone monument with wreaths at its base in a quiet park

The ceremony at Blue Mountain Park

The service begins at approximately 11am at the Blue Mountain Park Cenotaph. That timing is deliberate. The eleventh hour of the eleventh day is when the two minutes of silence falls, and the ceremony is arranged around it rather than starting after it.

The cenotaph stands in Blue Mountain Park, and the City gives the address as 975 King Albert Avenue. Expect the usual shape of a Legion service: the act of remembrance, the Last Post, the silence, and wreath laying by local organisations, branches and cadets. See the full Remembrance Day Coquitlam listing and the Royal Canadian Legion Coquitlam Branch 263 for details.

A civic building with flags at half-mast against a grey sky

Things to do before the eleventh

Coquitlam runs a programme called Park Spark Coquitlam Remembers, and it gives you something to do with children that is more than standing still in the cold.

Poppy painting and messages along Veteran’s Way. At Blue Mountain Park you can paint a large poppy on the grass along Veteran’s Way as part of a temporary display, and write a message of remembrance to tie to a tree with a yellow ribbon. This runs from Sunday, November 2 to Monday, November 10 at various times. The messages stay on the trees until November 14, after which they are transcribed and forwarded to Canadian veteran groups, so what you write is not thrown away.

Poppy painting at Spirit Square. On Thursday, November 5, from 11:30am to 1:30pm, you can add a painted poppy to the temporary outdoor display at Spirit Square on Burlington Drive, across the street from Coquitlam City Hall.

The Remembrance Day tea. The Dogwood Pavilion at 1655 Winslow Avenue runs a tea from 1pm to 2:30pm after the ceremony, with music by Michelle Carlisle. It requires registration through Coquitlam Registration, course 130912, so it is the one part of the day that is not simply turn up.

National Indigenous Veterans Day falls on November 8. It honours First Nations, Inuit and Métis people who served, and it is worth marking separately from the eleventh rather than folding into it. More than 4,000 Indigenous soldiers served in the First World War and more than 3,000 First Nations members in the Second World War, many of them while facing discrimination at home.

A quiet park pathway lined with trees in early November

The poppy, and what changed this year

The poppy campaign funds Veterans and their families, and money raised locally stays in the community where it was donated.

The change for 2026 is the date. The National Poppy Campaign now starts on October 24, a new permanent annual start date, moved up from the traditional last Friday of October. So poppies are out about a week earlier than people expect. The campaign runs to November 11, and branches set their own local timing, so a box appearing in your neighbourhood later than the 24th is normal.

How to give:

Traditional boxes in shops and at the Legion branch, still the most common.
Pay Tribute tap boxes, run with RBC, in hundreds of locations. One tap of a card, phone or watch donates $5.
Point of sale at partners such as Starbucks, passed to the local branch.
TD branches, which distribute poppies across the country.
At the door, through the Legion’s Amazon Canada collaboration, now in its third year, with biodegradable poppies.
Online through the Legion’s national site.

The Legion also unveils a new donation technology on October 24, which it calls a first for a national fundraising campaign and has not yet detailed. It sits alongside the tap boxes rather than replacing them.

A rain-washed street leading toward a downtown cenotaph

Flypasts, and why there is no time to give you yet

The Royal Canadian Air Force marks Remembrance Day with flypasts over ceremonies across the country, and a service at a cenotaph in a park is exactly the kind of setting one passes over. The catch is the notice: routes and times are released only in the day or two before November 11, not weeks out. As of late October no 2026 Lower Mainland route had been published, so any precise time printed now would be invented.

In recent years British Columbia has seen a CP-140 Aurora over Lower Mainland ceremonies. If a flypast is confirmed this year it will be announced by the RCAF and reported locally in the first week of November. Either way, be at the cenotaph by 10:50am. A flypast happens over the ceremony, not on a separate schedule you can attend.

Questions often asked

What time does it start? The parade leaves Como Lake Middle School at about 10:30am. The ceremony at Blue Mountain Park begins at about 11am.

Where is the cenotaph? In Blue Mountain Park, 975 King Albert Avenue.

Who runs it? Coquitlam Royal Canadian Legion Branch 263, with the City.

Is it free? Yes, and open to anyone who wishes to pay their respects.

Can I bring children? Yes. The poppy painting along Veteran’s Way from November 2 to 10 is the part built for them, and the parade route is short enough for small legs.

Can I do something if I cannot attend on the day? Paint a poppy and leave a message along Veteran’s Way before November 10. The messages are collected and sent to Canadian veteran groups.

Where do I get a poppy? From boxes in shops and at the branch, from the tap boxes in partner locations, at Starbucks tills, at TD branches, online through the Legion, or delivered through the Legion’s Amazon storefront. The campaign now opens on October 24.