Why remember?
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We must remember. If we do not, the sacrifice of those one hundred thousand Canadian lives will be meaningless.
They died for us, for their homes and families and friends, for a collection of traditions they cherished and a future they believed in; they died for Canada.
The meaning of their sacrifice rests with our collective national consciousness; our future is their monument.
These wars touched the lives of Canadians of all ages, all races, all social classes. Fathers, sons, daughters, sweethearts: they were killed in action, they were wounded, and thousands who returned were forced to live the rest of their lives with the physical and mental scars of war.
The people who stayed in Canada also served - in factories, in voluntary service organizations, wherever they were needed.
Yet for many of us, war is a phenomenon seen through the lens of a television camera or a journalist’s account of fighting in distant parts of the world.
For those of us born during peacetime, all wars seem far removed from our daily lives.
The Canadians who went off to war in distant lands went in the belief that the values and beliefs enjoyed by Canadians were being threatened. They truly believed that “Without freedom there can be no ensuring peace and without peace no enduring freedom.
On Remembrance Day, we acknowledge the courage and sacrifice of those who served their country and acknowledge our responsibility to work for the peace they fought hard to achieve.
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