When names become stories, remembrance becomes personal.
William Cowan (Guelph, ON), seated centre, captained the GCVI basketball team in 1936-37.
When students discover that the person they are researching lived in their community, walked the same streets, attended the same school, or sat in the same classrooms, history becomes more than something they learn about. It becomes something they can relate to.
These connections bring the past closer, helping students see the names on local memorials as people who were once students, teammates, neighbours, family members, and friends.
![AI-generated illustration created using [ChatGPT (OpenAI]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/69bbfbe2db037764bc41cdf0/c4c87fbb-87e0-4e6f-987c-8b246322390a/ChatGPT+Image+Aug+3%2C+2026%2C+06_32_24+PM.png)
Too often, remembrance is something students observe rather than experience.
Faces to Names transforms students from spectators into researchers, guiding them as they uncover the lives behind the names on local memorials. Through service records, photographs, letters, newspapers, and community knowledge, they piece together stories that might otherwise remain forgotten or unknown.
As students connect these stories to the places where people lived, went to school, worked, and served, remembrance becomes more than a moment of reflection. It becomes a process of discovery, connection, and understanding.
Through this work, students gain a deeper appreciation of the impact of war on individuals, families, and communities. They don’t simply learn history, they help preserve it and share it with others.
Students don't just learn about remembrance.
They participate in it.
Every name on a memorial is part of a larger community story.
As students research and document the people behind local memorials, they create more than individual profiles. Their work helps preserve community history, reconnect families with stories, and make local remembrance more accessible for future generations.
Families, museums, libraries, archives, and local organizations can contribute knowledge, photographs, and materials that enrich these stories and strengthen the public record.
Together, these contributions create a growing body of community knowledge that helps ensure these stories are not lost.
A Living Record of Community Remembrance
The Canadian Remembrance Torch serves as a national symbol of gratitude for peace and freedom and is central to the charity’s mission. Designed and continually enhanced by engineering students at McMaster University, the Torch brings contemporary remembrance to public ceremonies, educational programs, and communities in Canada and overseas.
Faces to Names is a registered Canadian charity making remembrance meaningful and relevant for new generations of Canadians.
Its flagship educational platform guides students as they research, document, and share the stories of people commemorated on local memorials, revealing their connections to the communities that remember them.
THE SYMBOL AT THE HEART OF FACES TO NAMES
The Torch is the symbol. Faces to Names is the action.
Why Faces to Names Was Created
Karen Hunter, Founder and Executive Director, Faces to Names
Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation Recipient (2026)
Contemporary Remembrance
Faces to Names was founded by Karen Hunter, whose work in remembrance has evolved through a series of initiatives that have helped transform remembrance from something observed into something personally experienced.
In 2019, she launched In Our Fathers' Footsteps, helping descendants of Canadians who served during the Second World War retrace the paths of liberation in the Netherlands and connect with the stories of their family members.
That work inspired the creation of the Canadian Remembrance Torch, a national symbol of gratitude for peace and freedom that has been carried at ceremonies in Canada and overseas.
These initiatives led to the creation of Faces to Names, a national educational platform that empowers students to research, preserve, and share the stories behind the names on local memorials.
We believe remembrance should:
• Look forward, inspiring gratitude for the peace and freedom we enjoy today.
• Celebrate as well as commemorate, recognizing the courage, service, and values that continue to shape our country.
• Be year-round, becoming part of everyday learning and community life rather than being confined to commemorative dates.
• Invite participation, giving people the opportunity to discover, preserve, and share the stories behind the names.
• Strengthen our connection to Canada, fostering a shared appreciation for the people, places, and stories that unite us.
Bring Remembrance to Life
Whether you're an educator, student, community organization, family member, or supporter, you can help ensure the stories behind the names are discovered, shared, and remembered.