First Guard Mount of the 60th season on Parliament Hill of 2018

The first Guard Mount is set to take place on June 24, 2018, on the East Lawn of Parliament Hill at 9:45 a.m. It’s recommended to arrive 15 minutes early to ensure you can find a spot with the perfect view of the ceremony.

The event is performed by the Ceremonial Guard, made of a composite military unit of the Canadian Armed Forces. They can be spotted wearing their distinctive red tunics and bearskin hats of the Governor General’s Foot Guards of Ottawa and the Canadian Grenadier Guards of Montreal. The Ceremonial Guard is an icon of Ottawa and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

On the day of the First Guard Mount, the Ceremonial Guard will perform a range of public duties and ceremonial activities in the National Capital Region. These duties include the daily Changing of the Guard Ceremony on Parliament Hill.

The First Guard Mount marks the beginning of the 2018 season, ending on August 23. In addition to the daily Guard Mount ceremonies on Parliament Hill, the unit will perform hourly sentry duties every day at Rideau Hall, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Please note, there will be no Changing of the Guard Ceremony from June 29 to July 2, due to Canada Day celebrations.

The Changing of the Guard began as a morning routine on Parliament Hill on July 2, 1959, and has since grown into an annual tradition. At the time, it was carried out by the Regiment of Canadian Guards, a Regular Force regiment of the CAF. The Public Duties Detachment was manned by two Reserve Guards Regiments, the Governor General’s Foot Guards, from Ottawa, and the Canadian Grenadier Guards, from Montreal.
Today, the Ceremonial Guard is made up of CAF members from units across Canada, who wear and adopt the customs and traditions of these two Guards Regiments.