The Vimy Foundation Centennial Park, which will open to the public Nov. 9 as part of official Armistice 100 commemorations, is intended to be a space for quiet contemplation and dialogue.

Visitors to Vimy can learn about the battle at the education centre, explore the tunnels and trenches, and take in the breathtaking limestone Vimy memorial monument, but there wasn’t a place where they could then sit and process the experience, says Jeremy Diamond, Executive Director of the Vimy Foundation, which led the development of the park. “We wanted to create a space to tell the story of these Vimy oak trees, where we can gather young people or tour groups to sit on a bench and take a moment to reflect on what was 100 years ago.”

Set on 1.6 hectares of former farmland adjacent to the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, the park features 100 oaks planted in four concentric circles, representing the four Canadian divisions that fought together for the first time at Vimy. Paths and benches throughout provide a view to the Vimy monument, while a sculpture of a bugler, designed by Canadian artist Marlene Hilton Moore, calls to its twin at CFB Borden near Barrie, Ont., where many of the soldiers who fought at Vimy trained.

Because the property was part of the Vimy battlefield, the land required extensive excavation to remove unexploded ordnance and other metal debris. The contractors also uncovered human remains. When that happens, Diamond says, all work ceases, and the authorities are notified so the remains can be respectfully removed for identification (if possible) and reburial in a military graveyard.

“It’s a sobering reminder that you’re on a battlefield,” Diamond says of the lengthy cleanup process. “You have a moment where you realize how much activity that land experienced over the years of the war.”