Ottawa Sun
Published: Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Perpetual gift of our fallen: For a Canada that is free, remember their sacrifice -- and thank our protectors today

Today marks the 91st anniversary of the end of the Great War. 

World War I claimed 67,000 Canadian lives and wounded another 173,000. The war to end all wars (if only it were true) claimed, by some estimates, an astonishing 20 million lives across our planet. 

Twenty-one years later, in the fall of 1939, our nation once again heeded the call to defend freedom and fight tyranny centred in Europe. After six years, more than 1.1 million Canadians had served in our forces, with 45,000 losing their lives and another 54,000 wounded in World War II.

Just five years after the end of World War II, almost 27,000 Canadians had served in the three-year Korean War as part of the United Nations’ effort to combat communist forces that invaded South Korea.  More than 500 Canadians lost their lives on the Korean peninsula. 

The common thread through these wars and Canada’s subsequent involvement in UN peacekeeping and peacemaking missions, the Gulf War and our current commitment in Afghanistan, is the projection of our democratic values of inclusion and tolerance, adherence to the rule of law and an unrelenting commitment to defend human lives — regardless of race, language, religion or geography — from oppression, terrorism and fundamentalism in all its incarnations. 

It is true and laudable that we do not seek out war, nor do we instigate conflict.  But we are a nation that leads when we answer the call of history.  The graves of our finest, spanning all corners of the globe, are a testament to this fact.

As we honour many of our veterans in the twilight of their years and others — think Afghanistan — who were taken from their families decades before their time, we should not lament the fact that for many Canadians, war is viewed as an abstract, arcane and even alien concept. 

On the contrary, we should reflectively view this apathy, confusion and yes, sometimes maddening indifference and ignorance of the pivotal and blood-soaked moments of our history, as an irrefutable testament to the nobility and justification of the sacrifices of our war dead. 

This is the collective victory that more than 110,000 Canadians have fought and died to secure and sustain since Confederation.  A Canada that has not seen hostile violations of its borders by sovereign powers since 1812.  A Canada whose coastlines have not been threatened by any axis of evil since Nazi Germany’s U-boats during World War II.

A Canada where the vast majority of us under 65 — save for our military families — have learned about war from textbooks, the Internet, television or conversations with our elders. 

This is the perpetual gift of our fallen to us.  A country that is peaceful.  A country envied the world over.  A country where our freedoms of expression, assembly and religion are protected and upheld by law, not stuck down by the whims of a dictator or the barrel of a gun. 

To those who wear the uniform, their families and to the 3,000 Canadian forces personnel who today are posted alongside our allies across the globe to protect us from nefarious threats and unimaginable evil, we say thank you and merci. 

Because of you and those before you; we remember that our freedom is not free.