Passport Passeport Canada VIMY PILGRIMAGE 1936 - Super Rare

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Passport Passeport Canada VIMY PILGRIMAGE 1936 - Super Rare:
$7476.90

A unique chance for collectors to catch this 88-year-old, exceptional document!
VIMY PILGRIMAGE PASSPORT - CANADA - 1936ONLY 6000 have been issued!
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France is a place for all Canadians who served their country in battle during WW1. 60,000 Canadians were killed. Over 11,000 of those killed died in France, but they have no known grave. The Canadian National Vimy Memorial bears the inscribed names of 11,168 missing Canadians, killed in action in France but whose remains have not been found or identified.
The Government of Canada issued around 6000 free-of-charge Special Vimy Passports. These passports were provided for people who wanted to make the pilgrimage to France for the unveiling ceremony of the Vimy Memorial and visits to other sites of Canadian sacrifice.
Over 6,000 pilgrims set sail for France on five ocean-going steamships, leaving the port of Montreal in Canada on Jul 16, 1936. The five ships were the S.S. Montrose, S.S. Montcalm, S.S. Antonia, S.S. Ascania, and S.S. Duchess.
During the Pilgrimage visit, the S.S. Montrose also carried 300 wreaths to be laid at Canadian sites on the 1914-1918 Western Front battlefields. Over 1,000 Canadians also traveled from England.
The date of the dedication and unveiling ceremony was Jul 26, 1936. There was a massive crowd of approximately 100,000 people present at the ceremony. Many thousands of them were of Canadian, British and French ex-Servicemen. About 8,000 Canadian Veterans had traveled there from Canada.
There were family members of the surviving Veterans and their comrades who had been killed, widows and mothers, dignitaries, and royalty. There were also 50 children from the five French communes who had donated the land as a gift to Canada and another 200 children from Arras.
King Edward VIII unveiled the memorial as King of Canada. As Prince of Wales before he was crowned king, Edward had been on the Staff of the Canadian Corps in France during the war. The President of France, Monsieur Albert Lebrun, participated in the official unveiling. During the ceremony, King Edward pulled a cord to release the Union Flag (Union Jack), which covered the statue of "Mother Canada" on the northern wall of the memorial.
THE PASSPORTThe passport has the number 673 (of about 6000), so quite a very early issue, and the document condition is just excellent.
On May 2, 1936, the passport was issued in Ottawa to Police Constable Charley Bumstead Esq.
The passport expired on Aug 1, 1937. Page nine shows the only stamp in the passport = Quebec Immigration, Sep 25, 1936.
How many of these special passports survived?I'm aware of merely THREE instances. One is held by a Canadian collector, another resides within a Canadian archive, and the third is this one.
Government records indicate approximately 6000 passports were issued, yet nearly nine decades later, it's reasonable to assume only a microscopic fraction remain existing.
A fantastic item from a long-time collector you can trust. 24 years on with a 100% rating.
See pictures. Complete, original document, and in great condition!Shipping by FedEx - fast and secure!