'We will remember them': Canada marks national day of observance for Covid-19 victims

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the House of Commons Thursday, one year after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, and said March 11, 2020 will always be marked by a before and an after.

Since the pandemic began, 2.5 million people around the world have died due to COVID-19, with more than 22,000 of them in Canada. ``For families and close ones, each death has a before and an after,'' Trudeau said.

``Since the great wars of the 20th century, there is a sentence we often evoke, and it's a sentence that we can bring back for those that we lost this year during the pandemic: We will remember them.

''Trudeau chose to make Thursday a national day of remembrance because it was the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic.

The prime minister evoked the memories of Canadians being asked to stay home and stay safe, of essential workers stocking grocery store shelves and of people cheering health-care workers from their balconies.