WINNIPEG (CBC) - A small crowd, many wearing the orange and maroon school colours of Virginia Tech, gathered at the school for an emotional ceremony Wednesday to remember the 32 people shot to death by a student gunman one year ago.

Classes were cancelled for the day as students marked the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history with a low-key memorial. The names of each of the victims was read aloud, as many in the crowd stood with their heads bowed, some wiping away tears.

Among those remembered was Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, a Nova Scotian, who taught French in Virginia Tech's department of foreign languages. She was gunned down while teaching a French class at Norris Hall.

She was remembered as a "passionate, inspiring teacher of French...dedicated to preserving her francophone heritage, cherished her family, brought joy to others with her own joie de vivre."

"It's like a big question mark," Heidi Miller, 20, a sophomore from Harrisonburg who was shot three times and was one of six survivors in the French class, told the Associated Press. "Should we be in mourning all day, or should we try to do something normal?"

The gathering took place at the same field where a white candle lit at midnight began a day of mourning.

'We remain deeply and profoundly saddened'

A moment of silence was observed for the victims followed by a tolling of bells.

"We remain deeply and profoundly saddened by the events of that tragic day," Virginia Tech president Charles Steger told the crowd. "Indeed, all our lives were changed on that day."

The state flags were flown at half-mast. A candlelight vigil was set for the evening.

Chris Clackum of NBC News said that since the shooting, many students say they are unnerved by the sounds of sirens.

"On that day there were not just one, but about 30 to 40 sirens that respondd to the call right after the shooting," he told CBC News.

But he said they do feel more secure and notice a greater police presence on campus.

A year ago, Cho, a student with mental health issues, killed two people in a dormitory, then killed 30 others more than two hours later in a classroom building before taking his own life.

Cho had been ruled a danger to himself during a court commitment hearing in 2005 and was ordered to receive outpatient mental-health care, but never got it.

With files from the Associated Press

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