Frequently Asked Questions

About our Events

No Stone Left Alone events can happen at any time during the year, but typically they are held during or near Veterans Week, which is November 5 to 11.

YES. Most NSLA events welcome public attendance. Please see our Locations page for more information about public events planned in your area.

No Stone Left Alone is always happy to engage those who support our mission. Here are some ways you can get involved. 

• Check our International Find a Cemetery map to find a location near you to hold your own NSLA commemoration, and honour the veterans at rest in your community

• Attend an already registered NSLA ceremony near you 

• Watch our live streamed ceremony from Beechmount Cemetery in November  

• Watch our Remembrance Day special on November 11 on Global TV 

• Follow us on social media 

• Buy tickets, sponsor or participate in the online auction for A Dance to Remember, our signature fundraising gala held in Edmonton, AB in November

• Donate to support our efforts

During No Stone Left Events, we commemorate veterans who have passed. We do this through a uniquely moving, hands-on act of remembrance - laying a poppy at their headstone. This personal act signals our immense respect and gratitude for our military veterans who have now gone, while recognizing the contributions of living veterans, serving members and their families.

Holding an Event

You can! Everyone from educators and students, community members, Youth organizations, Senior organizations, .service providers, and cemetery affiliates hold NSLA events in their communities.  

A complete guide is provided to assist you in planning your commemoration, and NSLA coordinators in each region are in place to answer any questions you might have in the process. 

We also have in-depth teaching and learning resources to further students’ education and make connections to curriculum concepts. You can download the resources here.

Our curriculum-linked Learning Resources: 

• provide deeper learning paths around the NSLA experience 

• are designed for upper elementary and junior high levels 

• are linked to curriculum outcomes, primarily in social studies and language arts 

• are developed in collaboration with teachers across Canada 

There are hundreds of thousands of veterans interred in cemeteries across the country. In fact, headstones under the care of Veterans Affairs Canada and Commonwealth War Graves Commission alone number over 216,000 in Canada. And this does not include the countless other veterans whose markers are not maintained by VAC or CWGC. 

Our Find a Cemetery map indicates how many veterans are interred at each of the cemeteries under the care of VAC and CWGC. Even if your local cemetery isn’t on the list, chances are there are veterans at rest there. Cemetery operators can sometimes provide information. Or you and some volunteers can explore the cemetery looking for military insignia and indications of service, to identify veterans to be commemorated. You can also reach out to your community for information.

Another excellent resource is the Find a Grave website. Many Canadian cemeteries have already been extensively researched and often photos of the headstones are available to view online.

There is no fee to participate in NSLA events.

As a nonprofit organization, we do rely on the generosity of fellow Canadians to help us provide our programming to students across the country. We are grateful for all charitable contributions. Even $2 per participant moves us closer to our goal of honouring all of the 216,000+ known veterans at rest across Canada.  

Yes! NSLA events can be small and simple with just a few participants, or expanded to engage the wider community. The more involved, the bigger the impact! Many events include community groups as well as representation from the Canadian Armed Forces, veterans’ groups, and municipal, provincial and even federal government.

• Use our Find a Cemetery map to find a cemetery near you 

• Register your ceremony so we can send you your organizer toolkit 

• Then use our guide to bring together youth and community members from your area to hold a No Stone Left Alone event to honour the veterans at rest in your area.  

We invite you to watch our NSLA Ceremony Live Stream from Beechmount Cemetery in Edmonton, AB. The birthplace of NSLA, Beechmount Cemetery is the site of a student focused live streamed commemoration which allows Canadians to take part in an NSLA event from their classrooms or homes. The event will be shared live on our website, and will be available to watch after as well. 

Funding & Donations

• Grants 

• Private donors 

• Fundraising Gala – A Dance to Remember 

• Event sponsorships 

• Event ticket sales 

• Live and silent auctions 

• Optional participant fundraising 

No Stone Left Alone is a nonprofit organization, and we rely on your contributions to ensure that we can continue to engage young Canadians in ongoing remembrance.

Your donations allow NSLA to provide participants and organizers with:

• Buy tickets for or sponsor our fundraising gala - A Dance to Remember

• Watch our live streamed ceremony from Beechmount Cemetery 

• Watch our Remembrance Day televised special on November 11 on Global TV  

• Follow us on social media, and share our content with your network!

Students and Teachers

By participating in a No Stone Left Alone remembrance event, students strengthen their values of respect, leadership, citizenship, responsibility and gratitude. They also have the opportunity to enrich their community and contribute to a national effort that makes a real difference. 

About the Poppy

Please see the easy to follow one-page guide or watch this short video clip to see how poppies are placed during No Stone Left Alone events.

When placing a poppy on a veteran’s headstone, we ask that you:

• kneel toward the headstone

• recite the veteran’s name aloud

• place the poppy on or at the base of the headstone

• stand upright and take a moment to reflect on their service and sacrifice

We take every effort to be conscious of the environment and ensure all cemeteries are respectfully addressed after the ceremonies. In many locations, the same volunteers who placed the poppies (or poppy alternatives such as poppy-painted stones) return to pick them up. In others, cemetery grounds staff pick them up for us. Whichever is the case, we work with the cemetery or community to ensure that these sacred spaces are treated with the respect and care they deserve.

Definitions

Definition of a Veteran: Any former member of the Canadian Armed Forces who successfully underwent basic training and is honourably released.