​​Leke is located in Diksmuide, in the province of West Flanders. The village was liberated by the 28th Armoured Regiment (also called the British Columbia Regiment), which was part of the 4th Armoured  Brigade, 4th Canadian Armoured Division.

​The regiment, from Vancouver, Canada, was mobilised the 24 May 1940 as an infantry regiment but transformed to an armoured regiment in 1942. It was shipped to England on the 21 August 1942 and landed in Normandy on the 26 July 1944 with the whole of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division. During Operation Totalize on 8 August 1944, during the ‘Falaise Battle’, they lost almost all of their tanks and counted 133 victims, including the Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Worthington.

​In Leke, after reconnaissance of the village on 6 September 1944  by the Canadian Manitoba Dragoons, the tanks of The British Columbia Regiment entered Leke from the south and liberated the village the next day.

​To honour this event, a monument was erected in September 2001 at the Canada Square, just opposite the main entrance of the Saint Nicholas church. It was designed by artist Patrick Steen and combines the maple leaf with 4 poppies, symbolising freedom, hope, liberation and remembrance. It is the only monument in Europe erected in honour of the British Columbia Regiment.