Remembrance

This year I am really struck by how our national memory is aging. CBC reported this morning that the last Canadian WWI survivor died a few months ago; those remaining from the Second World War are noticeably getting on in years. With this passing of living memory it has become the younger generation's obligation to remember the significance of our relatives' sacrifices even if we know relatively little about their direct experiences. I don't know about about you folks but neither of my Grandpas were very forthcoming with their experiences of the war though it affected them profoundly. It's difficult to remember when our grandparents generation held so strongly to a culture of silence.

So this November 11th I remember my own perceptions of these men who I never really knew. I remember my Grandpa Harry who fought in the Pacific campaign, squeezed tight in a one-man sub, planting explosives in far away waters. I think of those who died because of his actions and am grateful that my life that was possible because he survived that hell. I think of my Grandpa Walt and his time in Italy and the connection he always felt to that place. Near the end of his years, after many rounds of chemo he had lost enough weight to fit back into his service uniform. Someone took a picture and it's often how I remember him, physically weak but strong in spirit, and lucky to have lived all those years after the war.

Remembrance Day does, however, bring up conflicting emotions in me. I do not agree with Canada's current military missions or the glorification of war, but I find solace in remembering my own ancestors who I love and respect and to whom I am very grateful.

I also like to take this time to think of those who have not always been so prominently remembered. Soldiers of Aboriginal descent had a strong presence in the Second World War. Initially, First Nations peoples were not exempt from conscription (with the exception of the Inuit), however several groups protested this mandatory service, some nations arguing it was against their treaty agreements. It wasn't until 1944 that the war cabinet granted this exemption to several groups but even then, many continued to volunteer for service.

Unfortunately, those that returned from fighting alongside their Euro-Candian counterparts found that they were still not equal in the eyes of the government. In many places, portions of already limited reserves had been given to Canadian farmers in order to increase wartime crop production, never to be returned. Indigenous veterans were also denied many of the benefits such as housing, employment offers and vocational training that white soldiers received. Such disparity after unfathomable hardship helped catalyze an Aboriginal activist movement that went on to fight for Indigenous rights. In 2002 the Canadian government finally recognized the sacrifices of First Nations veterans and the government's unjust treatment of these veterans them by offering cash settlements. I noticed today how the Canadian government was careful to maintain an Aboriginal presence, however minimal, within the national Remembrance Day ceremonies on Parliament Hill, providing an address in the Cree language in addition to English and French. I wonder how many Canadians listening knew about the unfair treatment of Aboriginal veterans. For me it is important to pay homage to those who have not always been at the forefront of the national memory in order to contemplate the consequences of not adequately remembering and honouring.

Anyways these are just a couple of my thoughts on this Remembrance Day. What or who do you remember today? How do you remember? Are ceremonies important to you or is it more of a personal experience? November 11th is a unique day in Canada and one of the only national events devoted entirely to the acts of remembering and honouring; I would love to know how you experience the it.