People across Canada were pausing for a moment of silence on Saturday to mark Remembrance Day and honour the more than 100,000 Canadians killed in war and peacekeeping missions during the past century.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his wife and their two children attended the main ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa under rainy skies. Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean was also among the dignitaries.

Silver cross mother Alice Murphy of Conception Harbour, N.L., laid a wreath in Ottawa on behalf of mothers who have lost a child in the military or merchant navy. Murphy's son, Cpl. Jamie Murphy, was killed in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan.

Canadian military personnel killed
First World War: 1914-1918	66,655
Second World War: 1939-1945	44,893
Korean conflict: 1950-1953	516
Peacekeeping: 1956-2006	121
Afghanistan: 2002-2006	42

Later, the Governor General walked into the crowd to shake hands with veterans and their families.

In Kandahar, Afghanistan, about 500 Canadian soldiers marked Remembrance Day with a poignant ceremony. They gathered on the parade square at National Command Headquarters in front of a grey stone cenotaph bearing the names and photographs of Canadians who have been killed in Afghanistan.

A lone bugle played the Last Post before those in attendance observed two minutes of silence. more

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

- By John McCrae, Canadian Soldier of the First World War.