Vimy Foundation Centennial Park
Vimy Foundation Centennial Park offers visitors a unique and reflective space to reflect on the horrors that occurred on these lands during the Great War, contrasting with the solemnity and grace of the adjacent Canadian National Memorial. The main attraction of the four-acre park is 100 Vimy Oak trees, grown from acorns collected on the battlefield in 1917, along with the Borden bugle, the Centennial Flagpole, and 360-degree memorial views of the First World War battlefield. One hundred years after the war, the Park ensures that we never forget the sacrifice of all those who served our country.
The Vimy Foundation
The Vimy Foundation is a national charitable organization whose mission is to preserve and promote Canada's legacy of the First World War, symbolized by the victory at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. This momentous event is widely considered a pivotal moment in our history, Canada's first steps onto the world stage. Through youth education programs, awareness campaigns, and legacy projects, including the new Vimy Visitor and Education Centre and Centennial Park, the Vimy Foundation provides Canadians with opportunities to learn how the First World War transformed our nation.
Vimy Oaks
The park's oak trees are directly descended from acorns collected on the Vimy Ridge battlefield by a Canadian soldier, Lieutenant Leslie Miller of Scarborough, Ontario, and later planted on his farm in Canada, which he named The Vimy Oaks. A number of these majestic oaks are still alive today in Canada, while virtually none of the Vimy Ridge oaks survived the First World War. The Vimy Oaks Legacy Society, a Canadian non-profit volunteer association, was created to repatriate young Vimy oaks descended from acorns collected after the battle. Volunteers landscaped and planted these repatriated Vimy oaks, which now stand guard in this park adjacent to the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.