IQALUIT - Iqalummiut filled the Air Cadet Hall on Nov. 11 to take a moment and remember the soldiers who have paid the ultimate price in the line of duty.

Air Cadet Evan Little stands to attention as wreaths are laid in remembrance. - Kassina Ryder/NNSL photo

When all the chairs were filled, people lined the walls and packed the entryway.

Forty cadets stood to attention against one wall, leaving their posts to lay wreaths during the ceremony.

"For me, Remembrance Day is just remembering all the soldiers that sacrificed their lives for us," said first-year cadet Dalia David-Thistle, 12. "I think of all the wars, so many that have happened, so many that are still happening. We should remember all of them."

Air Cadet Sgt. Simon Demaio, 15, said the cadets were there "out of respect for those who died in the war." RCMP officers wearing the red serge filled the first row of seats, brown leather boots gleaming.

The RCMP has a long history with the military, said Supt. Steve McVarnock, as the two organizations have worked alongside each other in peacekeeping missions for the past 20 years.

"Our members are also placed in harm's way," he said.

"It's important that we stand side by side in paying respect towards those who have fallen."

Master Cpl. Tim Peebles has been in the military 26 years. He is currently stationed in Iqaluit with the air force. As a member of the military, the day has special significance, he said, "It's a remembrance and a celebration of the sacrifices people have made, the successes we've enjoyed, the loss of friends."

Remembrance Day is necessary "so people realize what was the cost of the way we live. It's important to know what happened in the past," said Peebles.

During the ceremony at the packed hall, pipers Donald Mearns and Robbie Long and organist Paulin Paton took turns playing music as community members laid wreaths, several wiping back tears.

"I love Remembrance Day," said West Vancouver Mayor Pam Goldsmith-Jones. In Iqaluit for the week attending meetings, Goldsmith-Jones sat in the front row next to Iqaluit mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik. "It's a time when we can stop, the community comes together and we realize how much we have in common in our respect for people who gave everything they had for us."

"It's very simple," said Sheutiapik, when asked her views on the occasion, "Soldiers died for our freedom and once a year we have to show our respect for those who cannot be with us here today."