Thousands of veterans, military personnel and their supporters gathered at Canada’s National War Memorial in Ottawa to remember those who have fought and died to protect this country and its freedoms.
Monday’s grey and gloomy weather conditions — and the threat of rain — did little to dent the crowd size as many Canadians, some from points faraway, were eager to be in the nation’s capital to honour the men and women who have defended Canada in times of war and peace and the 118,000 Canadians who have been killed in service to this country.
The crowd assembled was one of the largest in recent memory with people snaked around the memorial and down the surrounding city streets, a return to form after smaller crowds of the COVID era.
Some people fought back tears as MCpl Timothy Reid played the Piper’s Lament on his bagpipes and four CF-18s flew over the skies above the ceremony — an important tribute as this year marks the 100-year anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Dignitaries, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, laid wreathes at the base of the memorial in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as the choir sang In Flanders Fields, the First World War-era poem penned by Canadian officer and surgeon John McCrae.
Rabbi Idan Scher delivered the benediction, urging all Canadians to look out for the country’s veterans.
“We must pledge as a nation to leave no veteran or their families behind. The best among us have fought for our freedom, it is now our duty to fight for their wellbeing,” Scher said. “We honour our fallen by proclaiming: united we rise, unbreakable we stand.”
The ceremony comes at an uncertain time for the world, with conflict still raging in Ukraine as Russia continues to pummel its neighbour with drones, missiles and bombs.
It’s not just a day to mark past service — Monday’s ceremony also paid tribute to the 4,385 Canadian forces personnel who are currently deployed. Some 1,900 Canadian forces are currently in Latvia to train Ukrainian soldiers as part of Operation Reassurance, Canada’s largest international military operation right now.
The Middle East is teetering on the edge of a wider conflict as Israel fights Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The government is also pushing ahead with a plan to ramp up military spending to finally meet NATO’s spending target of two per cent of GDP on defence by 2032. U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has been pushing for allies to spend more and faster.
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan tells CBC’s Ashley Burke that Canada’s armed forces are in a ‘transformational’ period, with a new defence policy and new investments coming in.
It’s in that context that Gen. Jennie Carignan, the chief of the defence staff (CDS), called on more Canadians to sign up to serve in the Armed Forces. “It’s very, very important that we recruit volunteers,” she said in an interview on the sidelines of the service. “That’s priority number one for us.”
Carignan said the military is working “as fast as we can” to rebuild Canada’s military capabilities to better meet its NATO commitments and face the challenges of the time.
Historical milestones
This is a year of important anniversaries for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) — it marks the 80th anniversary of Canadians landing at Juno Beach on D-Day in 1944 to take on the Nazis in the largest seaborne invasion in history.
Canadian sailors, soldiers and airmen played a critical role in the Battle of Normandy, which was a pivotal turning point in the Second World War and the campaign to liberate Western Europe from Adolf Hitler’s forces. It came at a huge cost: there were more than 18,700 Canadian casualties.
According to Veterans Affairs Canada estimates, there are approximately 7,300 Canadian veterans of the Second World War and Korean War still alive today out of the more than one million Canadians deployed as part of those conflicts.
It’s also been 10 years since the end of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, a conflict that saw some 40,000 Armed Forces personnel take part in an international coalition to destroy the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban regime. The war killed 165 Canadians — 158 soldiers and 7 civilians. Many others came home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a sometimes gruelling campaign against Islamic fundamentalists.
This year’s National Silver Cross Mother, Maureen Anderson of Oromocto, N.B., lost both her sons, Ron and his younger brother Ryan, after their service in Afghanistan as part of the Royal Canadian Regiment, an infantry regiment of the army. Both men had been diagnosed with PTSD before their deaths.
Anderson laid a wreath on behalf of all Canadian families who have lost a child in military service.
“It brings back a lot of memories of loss, especially if you’ve lost kids of your own,” Anderson said ahead of today’s ceremony. “It (PTSD) is rampant, and it’s a shame,” she said.
American Sign Language interpretation: CBC’s Rosemary Barton hosts special coverage of the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa. Closed captioning is available on this stream.
It’s also the 60th anniversary of the start of Canada’s peacekeeping mission in Cyprus when thousands were on hand to tamp down a crisis in the Mediterranean. More than 30,000 Canadian service members have been deployed to the island over the years.
“I’ve always wanted to come and I’m getting older — it was time,” said retired corporal Allan Methven, who served as a peacekeeper in Cyprus and was on hand for today’s ceremony.
He said Remembrance Day is so meaningful to him and other veterans.
“The sad thing is we don’t talk enough about it other than on the 11th of November. Entire generations are growing up not knowing why they’re growing up in a country like ours,” Methven said.
He had a message for young people thinking about joining the Armed Forces. “They need you now more than ever, perhaps,” he said.