It was literally a lifetime ago. Since John Babcock died in 2010 it is not even a distant memory for any living Canadian. Mr. Babcock was the last known surviving veteran of the Canadian military to have served in World War I. He was the last one to actually be able to say he was there, to have seen the devastation and the sacrifice of what that war was.
And still, Canadians remember. And especially this week which marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. Even today many historians debate what or who was responsible for the beginning of the war. The world was, in many ways, a very different place then. Certainly Canada, not even 50 years old as a nation, was very different from today and was only beginning to find its way as a country.
And despite the complexities of the war and the early years of our nation, Canada went to War in 1914. It entered the war when Britain declared war against Germany and over its duration 419,000 Canadian soldiers went overseas. 60,000 of them died. For a country that at the time had a population of less than 8 million people, it was an enormous sacrifice. Yet through the sacrifice, battlefield victories at Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele and Ypres helped forge an identity in the new country of Canada. As Prime Minister Stephen Harper described this week in Ottawa, amid the horrific loss, “Canada as a truly independent country was forged in the fires of the First World War.”
The sacrifice was also felt at home. The War Measures Act came into effect shortly after Canada entered the war resulting in the internment of over 8,500 people. Conscription became law in 1917.
When the war ended on November 11, 1918 Canada emerged a different country than when it entered the war. The loss of human life had left a hole in countless families and communities. There was an economic impact on the country that was measureable and an emotional impact on those who returned from war that could not be calculated.
More than a hundred years after World War I began, wars are still being fought and lives are still being lost around the world. The peace that so many have prayed for over the past century has been elusive and so often fleeting. Even today, in the Middle East, Syria, and the Ukraine to name a few, families live not knowing peace or security.
The sacrifices that were made by Canadians in World War I did not usher in a lasting peace in the world. But they did usher in a new Canada, one that is still engaged with our allies around the world. And as we pray for peace, we remember their lives. Generations have passed but their sacrifice will never be forgotten.
