Taking Root

With two years to go, The Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign is transforming our continent’s busiest highway into the world’s largest living tribute to veterans

Mark Cullen

Our relationship with trees can be quite personal. The volunteers at the Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign have certainly found this to be true.

When we began five years ago with the goal to plant 117,000 trees on the Highway of Heroes— one tree for every Canadian lost at war since 1812— we had no idea just how personal the experience would become.

We discovered that 117,000 trees fit nicely along the Highway right-of-way, between CFB Trenton and the coroner’s office in Toronto. As word spread that we needed to raise ten million dollars to get the job done, volunteers and donors came out of the woods (pun intended). Members of Landscape Ontario, a strategic partner, have provided our campaign with donated trees, mulch, soil and labour—and many more Canadians have donated their hard-earned cash.

Over 4,500 amazing people also put their hand up to say, “I want to be a part of this.” We’ve had whole teams of junior hockey, baseball and soccer players, teachers and students, church groups and social clubs alongside people who stood in respect on the bridges during the Afghan conflict, local Legion members and active service personnel by the busload, and of course, most powerfully, Silver Cross mothers (and fathers) coming together to plant trees together.