It was just a few years ago that talk show hosts across the country were expressing concern that Remembrance Day observations would become smaller events as less and less World War I and World War II veterans remained to tell the story of those conflicts. In fact this Remembrance Day marked the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
Despite those real concerns, something quite the opposite seems to be happening at Remembrance Day ceremonies in many places in Canada. Instead of organizers putting ceremonies in smaller facilities, they are looking for larger and larger accommodations for the many people coming to remember and support Canada’s war heroes. And even more encouraging is the fact so many of those in attendance are young people, born generations after the two largest world conflicts.
This past Tuesday morning on Remembrance Day, the gym at the Steinbach Junior High School was again full as young and old came to honour those Canadians who have served in Canada’s armed forces in the past and who serve today. Steinbach Legion Branch President Gary Toews led the ceremony which included two minutes of silence, a meditation and the laying of wreaths. Young people from the local Stoneybrook Air Cadets also participated in various parts of the ceremony. There were also in attendance current members of Canada’s military who have served overseas and representatives from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Just as the face of Remembrance Day ceremonies is changing with the passage of time, so to is some of the focus. More recent Canadian forces missions of peacekeeping and conflict are being acknowledged. With nearly 100 Canadians killed in the war in Afghanistan and thousands more having served in that mission, there is a very recent and real testament of sacrifice for today’s Canadians to see.
No doubt among the thousands of people across Canada who gathered to mark Remembrance Day there are differences of opinion about the nature of the conflicts this generation and past generations have waged. The ability to express these differences in a free and democratic way is the very principle so many Canadians fought to defend. But regardless of these divisions, one thing that must unite Canadians is the belief that those men and women who have in the past served our country and those who do so today deserve our thanks and our remembrance. In the past and today, these Canadians take on a task and a burden that most of us could hardly imagine.
It’s a testament to a country and its people that they remember the sacrifices of past generations and acknowledge those of their current citizens. The many thousands of Canadians who gathered this past Remembrance Day speaks well of our recognition of that sacrifice and that we still remember.
