Thousands of veterans, military personnel and their supporters are gathering 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 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.
Some 1,900 Canadian forces are deployed in Latvia to train Ukrainian soldiers as part of Operation Reassurance, Canada’s largest international military operation.
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.
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.”
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 after their service in Afghanistan. She laid a wreath on behalf of all Canadian families who have lost a child in military service.
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.
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.