More than 80 years after being killed in battle, an unknown solider was brought back to Canada Thursday with full military honours.

• PHOTO GALLERY: Photographs from services in France

The Unknown Soldier arrives in Canada.

His casket will lie in state under the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill until Sunday, when he'll be interred at a special granite tomb at the base of the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

The site will be dedicated to all 110,000 Canadians who've lost their lives fighting in wars this century — especially the 27,000 who have no known graves.

"Although we know who they are, we know not where they lie," Defence Minister Art Eggleton said as the coffin was taken off a military Airbus.

French bearers carry the casket of the Unknown Soldier

Eggleton said the Unknown Soldier "will forever represent the Canadian sacrifice for the restoration of peace and the defence of freedom in the past, the present and the future."

The Peace Tower's bells tolled mournfully as the coffin arrived on Parliament Hill Thursday night.

Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson and Prime Minister Jean Chretien placed wreaths of white lilies and red carnations before the coffin.

War memorial at Vimy Ridge

The soldier's remains were handed over to a Canadian delegation during a solemn ceremony under a grey sky in France early Thursday morning.

• IN DEPTH: Unknown Soldier Returns to Canada

He was killed in 1917 at Vimy Ridge — Canada's hard-fought victory during the First World War.

"We don't know his name, we don't know his age, we don't know his unit. Nobody knows. Only God knows that," Veterans Affairs Minister George Baker said at the ceremony in France.

The silver maple coffin was given to a Canadian delegation in front of the war memorial at Vimy Ridge, as a group of war veterans looked on.

A Canadian flag was draped over the casket before it was carried away by pall bearers from several commonwealth countries.

Until now, the burial place of the Unknown Soldier was marked by a tombstone that read, "Known unto God."

His remains were exhumed from a French cemetery. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission released the body to Canada with the caveat that no attempt will be made to establish his identity.

Great care is being taken to ensure the Unknown Soldier will forever lie in the soil of his home province or territory. Earth from every part of Canada will be scattered in the bottom of the sarcophagus before his coffin is lowered.

Many veterans have applauded the decision to bring an Unknown Soldier home.

On Wednesday, a Canadian soldier who died fighting in 1916 was buried in the cemetery at Vimy Ridge. The remains of Private David John Carlson were only recently found.

• RELATED: Long lost soldier put to rest at Vimy Ridge

His family says they're grateful for the closure.