New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) students have put a controversial twist on usual Remembrance Day celebrations — by commemorating Canadian soldiers through a pub crawl. Prominently advertised on Facebook, the event called NBCC students to visit 11 pubs in 11 hours.
Though intended to be fun, the event has set off students and teachers alike. Jack Watt, a student representative for NBCC, told the Telegraph Journal that the event was “disrespectful” and “in bad taste.”
Larry Lynch, president of the local Royal Canadian Legion Branch 69, admitted that he would not be in attendance at such an event but said that “people have a right to remember however they want to remember.”
“It’s a free country, and that’s what our soldiers fought for,” he added.
The event’s main organizer, NBCC student Edward Jenkins, informed the local newspaper that the idea was “clever.”
To him, the pub crawl was a “way to express our dedication to the men and women that fought for our country.”
Aware of the negative reaction, the organizers later renamed the event the “Uptown Tour.”
With files from Maclean’s and Toronto Star.
