Are Canadians Forgetting About Remembrance Day?
Posted November 8, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Recent surveys suggest that only 50 percent of Canadians bothered to take the time to attend a ceremony in honour of our servicemen and women last year.
The Dominion Institute, an organization that promotes greater awareness and appreciation of Canadian history and culture, is hoping to change that. It’s calling on the Prime Minister to hold a state funeral or its equivalent to mark the passing of Canada’s last veteran of the First World War.
There are only three survivors of the Great War – 105-year-old Percy Wilson and Lloyd Clemett and John Babcock, both 106 – and the institute also says Canadians’ knowledge of that conflict is fading every year. According to surveys conducted by the organization, only one-third of Canadians could name the battle of Vimy Ridge as a key Canadian victory in the war.
“At the institute we’ve been polling Canadians on are you likely to attend a Remembrance Day ceremony? Each year unfortunately the number goes down,” said Rudyard Griffiths, the executive director of the institute. “The number one reason that Canadians say to us in our surveys why they’re not going is because they’re busy at work.”
On Wednesday veterans, cadets and about 200 students were keeping the memory of our war heroes’ efforts alive at the Erin Mills Town Centre with a ceremony four days ahead of Remembrance Day.
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion reminded the young people in the crowd how important it is to remember the sacrifices made years ago that have not only forged our nation’s identity, but have given us the freedoms we so often take for granted.
“We have to appreciate the great freedoms we enjoy every day and you as young people in your schools … and so today is very special,” McCallion told the crowd.
If you can’t make it out to a Remembrance Day ceremony Saturday, tune into Citytv and CP24 at 10:59am for live coverage from the Old City Hall cenotaph, Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill.
For more information on Remembrance Day and Canada’s military efforts, visit the following links:
