As is done each year, across Canada Remembrance Day will be observed on Wednesday, November 11.
In 1945 the second World War came to an end. That was 81 years ago, and most of the people that were alive and who experienced the realities of that war first hand, whether on the battlefields or the home-front are no longer with us, and the few that remain are in smaller numbers with each passing year.
Though eight decades is a long time, it struck me the other day that when I was born in 1970, the end of that second World War was just 25 years prior, and so it was a relatively fresh memory for my grandparents who had lived through WWII in Great Britain, and for my mother it was recent history, but today, it seems like a very long time ago.
As time marches on, we create more and more distance between our life today and that horrible second World War, as well as the World War before it which was supposed to have been the ‘war to end all wars’. This makes Remembrance Day ever more important, by ensuring that such impactful history is not lost on current and future generations.
Thanks to the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers and their families during the two world wars, I, the son of an immigrant mother and a father of mixed Indigenous and British ancestry, have been able to live a life feeling safe and secure here in Canada where democracy rules the day, and where diplomacy should always come before conflict, particularly armed conflict.
If you don’t learn about, appreciate, and learn from the past, you are doomed to to repeat it, which is why annual observances like Remembrance Day are so important.
Not that we ever really learn the hard lessons of war. While the end of World War II was 25 years behind us in 1970, the 20-year-long Vietnam war was still raging when I was born, and didn’t end until I was five years old. In the 56 years of my life on this planet, we have continued to see wars break out, some big, some small, but all horrific and unnecessary.
As I type these words in 2026, some 15 to 20 wars are currently taking place around the globe. We humans are, and always have been, a warring species.
Globally there are dozens of armed conflicts taking place at any given time; some capture our interest when headlines show up in our news feeds, while others take place with little international notice or attention at all. International news has provided extensive coverage of the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, or the United States and Israel’s war in Iran, but there are dozens more armed conflicts taking place, with tens of thousands losing lives that don’t receive the same coverage, and many are completely unheard of.
Thankfully, here in Canada we haven’t seen war on our land, and our military has largely been a peacekeeping force in my lifetime. We can’t know the future, however, and today we see wars taking place that we would not have imagined would take place just a few years ago, so our military stands ready to defend us, or to protect Canadian interests should the need arise.
With a military base located within the boundaries of this municipality, we are very well aware of today’s military as they shop in our stores, eat in our restaurants, and some members who live off base also live in our neighburhoods. Like many other communities where military bases are located, the military and its members become part of the fabric of the community, and we don’t ever want to have to see them sent off to armed conflicts. But we know that they are trained well, and their mission is always one of peacekeeping, not aggression. We Canadians can be rightly proud of our military who not only serve Canadians well, but the entire globe.
As I have written in Remembrance Day editorials in the past, in my opinion there are no winners in war. I think of the old saying, that war doesn’t determine who is right, only who is left.
At this point in our evolution, one would think that we would have moved past war, and found more humane ways to solve differences, but sadly, our tribal warring nature continues to lead us from one armed conflict to the next.
Fortunately I’ve never been personally touched by war. Like many in this young nation, I am the first generation of my family born in Canada. I have no friends or relatives who have served in the Canadian military, let alone seen battle, and there has never been a time in my life where I (or now my children) would have been expected to step up and go off to war, to ‘fight the good fight’.
So for me Remembrance Day is always a time to reflect upon both our past and the veterans who fought in the World Wars, two wars that took place long before I was born, as well as Canadian military members who have been sent off into war zones around the globe during my lifetime.
Remembrance Day is also a time to remind myself that war is a horrible reality being experienced by millions around the globe to this day – even as I type these words, bombs are exploding somewhere, neighbourhoods are being ripped apart by missile strikes, and as a result children in those war zones are living in sheer terror, and that truly breaks my heart.
The Remembrance ceremonies in Meaford will take place on November 11, starting at 10:30 a.m. All members of the Legion and local area veterans are invited to meet at the Meaford & St. Vincent Community Centre for the ‘March On’.
The parade will leave the Community Centre at 10:40 a.m. and will proceed to the cenotaph outside Meaford Hall. At 11 a.m. the ‘Last Post’ is sounded and the ceremony will begin. After the ceremony and the march back to the Community Centre, a reception for all participants will be held in the Community Centre.
As we honour our fallen heroes of battles past, I am thankful that we Canadians don’t glorify war, nor do we see it as a tool for resolving conflicts; it is a last resort, and one that I hope Canadians can avoid for generations to come.
