The Last Steps Memorial Arch
The Last Steps Memorial Arch was unveiled on the historic Halifax waterfront near the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in August 2016. The concept of the memorial project was first developed as an initiative of the Army Museum Halifax Citadel to link the historic national significance of the waterfront to the present day. The installation is the design of Nova Scotia-based artist Nancy Keating.
More than 100 years ago HMTS Saxonia sailed from Halifax with 2,282 soldiers for service in the First World War. The troops included members of the 25th Battalion (Nova Scotia Rifles), the first Nova Scotia infantry battalion to be raised and equipped in their home province.
Halifax and its harbor served as the North American base for the deployment of rations, supplies and more than 350,000 Canadian and Allied troops during the war. For many of those soldiers and their families, the waterfront is the location of their final steps on Canadian soil; the arch also recognizes the significant role Nova Scotia played in the defence of the nation.