The idea began with the Royal Canadian Legion, which persuaded the federal government to create a Canadian tomb of the unknown soldier as part of the Canada Millennium Partnership Program. The Cabinet asked the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to select one grave from among the unknown Canadians near Vimy Ridge. The site was chosen with deliberate symbolism: Vimy Ridge was a defining moment in Canadian military identity, the battle where a young dominion earned recognition as a fighting force in its own right. The soldier's former resting place in the Cabaret-Rouge Cemetery now bears a grave marker inscribed with words acknowledging that his remains were removed and returned to Canada. Back in Ottawa, the tomb was designed from granite selected to match the colour of the National War Memorial. Its bronze adornments depict a medieval sword, a First World War helmet, and intertwined branches of maple and laurel leaves -- symbols of Canada, victory, and death.

Since 2007, the Canadian Armed Forces have posted sentries at the tomb from April through November. Each morning, the first sentries march out with a duty piper and are read their orders by the posting non-commissioned officer. They stand at ease with weapons thrust to the full extent of the right arm, head up, feet exactly 30 inches apart. Sentries hold their post for one hour before being replaced, and may stand for two shifts in a day. They may march their beat -- a precise choreography that begins with the senior sentry's sharp rifle tap on the ground, answered by the second sentry's tap, followed by a measured pause, a pace forward, shoulders of rifles, an outward turn, and exactly nine paces before an about-turn. The sentries come from all branches of the Canadian Armed Forces: Army, Navy, Air Force, and Special Operations Command. They may not interact with the public. The ritual is silent, meticulous, and unbroken.

The sentry program was born from desecration. On the night of July 1, 2006, after Canada Day fireworks over nearby Parliament Hill, a retired Canadian Forces major photographed three young men urinating on the war memorial. The Royal Canadian Legion had long argued that the tomb deserved a permanent military guard. The photographs made the case undeniable, and the sentry program was established in the summer of 2007. Then came October 22, 2014. A gunman shot at the sentries on duty, fatally wounding Corporal Nathan Cirillo of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada as he stood guard. The attacker then crossed the street and stormed the Centre Block on Parliament Hill, where he was killed in a firefight involving Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers and RCMP officers. Cirillo's death transformed the tomb from a place of symbolic mourning into one of lived sacrifice. The sentry who replaced him the next morning stood at attention in the same spot.

The tomb was tested again on the weekend of January 29, 2022, when individuals participating in the Canada convoy protest against COVID-19 mandates danced on the monument, climbed the statue, and parked vehicles on the surrounding grounds. Military officials, politicians, and the trucking industry itself condemned the incident. Yet each spring, when the sentries return to their posts, the ritual resumes as though it had never been interrupted. Visitors leave flowers, coins, photographs, and handwritten notes at the base of the tomb. After each Remembrance Day, the Canadian War Museum collects the mementos for possible preservation. The tomb occupies a modest footprint in Confederation Square -- a slab of granite, a few bronze emblems, and an empty name plate where any name could go. That emptiness is the point. The soldier from Grave 7 could be anyone's father, brother, or son. That is precisely why he was chosen, and precisely why he matters.