The Canadian National Vimy Memorial honours all Canadians who served during the First World War. The Memorial bears the names of those who died in France with no known grave.

On the opening day of the Battle of Arras, 9 April 1917, four divisions of the Canadian Corps, fighting side by side for the first time, scored a huge tactical victory in the capture of the 60 metre high Vimy Ridge. After the war, the highest point of the ridge was chosen as the site of the great memorial to all Canadians who served their country in battle during the First World War, and particularly to the 60,000 who gave their lives in France. The memorial was designed by Canadian architect and sculptor, Walter Seymour Allward.

In 1920, the Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission was established to oversee creation of eight Canadian battlefield memorials in France and Belgium. The most impressive is the majestic and inspiring Canadian National Vimy Memorial. With a wealth of symbolism in its sculptures, it is a lasting tribute to the ultimate sacrifice Canadians made in Europe in the First World War.

Resting on a bed of 15,000 tonnes of concrete, its pylons and sculptured figures contain almost 6,000 tonnes of Croatian limestone. Towering 27 metres above the base of the monument, the two pylons represent Canada and France – two nations beset by war and united to fight for a common goal – peace and freedom for the Allied nations.

Twenty symbolic figures grace the monument. The topmost – that of Peace – is approximately 110 metres above. Arranged below are other figures representing Justice, Truth, Knowledge, Gallantry and Sympathy. The largest figure, a mourning figure known as Canada Bereft, was carved from a single 30‑tonne block. Head bowed in sorrow, she provides a powerful representation of Canada, a young nation grieving her dead. Overlooking the Douai Plain, she gazes down upon a symbolic tomb draped in laurel branches and bearing a helmet and sword.

Carved on the walls of the monument are the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who died in France and whose final resting place was then unknown. At the base of the Memorial, these words appear in French and in English:

TO THE VALOUR OF THEIR COUNTRYMEN IN THE GREAT WAR AND IN MEMORY OF THEIR SIXTY THOUSAND DEAD THIS MONUMENT IS RAISED BY THE PEOPLE OF CANADA