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From sunset to sunrise on Nov. 4 until Nov. 11, will project the names of the 68,000 Canadians, including New Brunswickers, who died in the First World War onto the Memorial Wall in the Alumni Memorial Building at the University of New Brunswick. The project is an initiative of noted actor and director R.H. Thomson, Martin Conboy, and Canada's National History Society.

The New Brunswick Provincial Capital Commission is facilitating New Brunswick's showing of Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil in partnership with the Province of New Brunswick, the University of New Brunswick, and Canadian Forces Base Gagetown; and its national partners, Veterans Affairs Canada and Canada's National History Society. Other viewing sites include Canada House in London, England, St. John's, Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Regina, and Edmonton.'

During the Great War, approximately 27,000 New Brunswickers served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. More than 2,400 died in active service; their remains – some identified and some not – are scattered on battlefields and buried in cemeteries in Europe. Their names are carved into monuments away and at home. Many of those who lived to return home suffered terribly: they had been gassed and physically and psychologically wounded. "For those who were left behind, the Vigil is a way to bring them home," said Lee Ellen Pottie, executive director of the New Brunswick Provincial Capital Commission. "For all New Brunswick's war dead, the Vigil is a means to remember them, to honour them, and to contemplate their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their families."

The venue for New Brunswick's Vigil is the Alumni Memorial Building on the University of New Brunswick campus in Fredericton. It was built in 1955 to honour the university's students, faculty, and alumni who died during both world wars. Situated just below the Alumni Memorial Building is Memorial Hall which was built in 1924 in honour of the 35 UNB alumni who served and lost their lives during the First World War.

"UNB's participation in Canada's military is an important piece of New Brunswick's military history," said John McLaughlin, President of the University of New Brunswick. "It includes the officer training corps; the enlistment of students and faculty; Alexander College, formed to assist in educating demobilized soldiers after the Second World War; and the current Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society, named after Brigadier Milton F. Gregg, VC, a Great War veteran."

The New Brunswick Provincial Capital Commission's mandate is to promote the history, culture and diversity of the capital region as a gateway to the rest of the province. In October 2007, the Capital Commission facilitated the designation of the Provincial Cenotaph, the only one in Canada, in Fredericton, New Brunswick's capital city.