With regard to commemoration and experiential learning, I have seen first-hand the value of having students walk the walk of what they've studied in a textbook. At Juno Beach and at the trenches of Beaumont-Hamel, students will always experience that “aha” moment when they understand, the moment when they get it.
For many years, while taking my students to Europe, I've always made sure to visit many of the Canadian battlefield locations. It was not long before other schools asked if they could come with us. In 2004 I led what I thought at the time was a big group from Durham--150 students and teachers--to Juno Beach for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. That initial pilgrimage has since led to subsequent student remembrance tours: the Battle of Hong Kong, the Battle of Ortona, the 90th anniversary of Vimy Ridge, and the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Holland.
Since 2004 I've led more than 11,000 students and teachers on pilgrimages of commemoration. On these pilgrimages, students are matched with a Canadian veteran and represent this veteran at commemoration ceremonies by proudly wearing that veteran's name. Or the student may choose a family's relative from any Canadian military assignment, from the Boer War to Afghanistan. These students then research these soldiers to personally identify with them. When they visit that soldier's cenotaph and come face to face, as it were, with their soldier, I can assure you that they get it.
For our upcoming tour, I have designed the “We Will Remember” program. Each school is twinned with and will visit a Commonwealth cemetery where Canadian soldiers are buried. Each school is matched with a cemetery where their local or provincial battalion has soldiers buried. Each student is matched with a soldier who died on April 9 and with a soldier who is buried at their twinned cemetery. Each student will place a candle of remembrance at this soldier's cenotaph during their school's commemoration ceremony at that cemetery.
Each school will also be participating in the We Will Remember flag project. Each school has been provided with a We Will Remember flag piece. After reciting the Canadian Legion's student pledge of remembrance, the students will sign their names on the flag in acceptance of this oath. When completed, all school pieces will be stitched together for presentation to our government on April 9.
I would now like to present a flag piece to the committee so that you may sign it and join with the students in this national flag piece. We currently have 144 schools from across Canada, from every province. If I were a political party, I'd have 144 seats. I'd like to have your flag piece join ours.
I'd also like to volunteer at this time, if you would like me to come back to Ottawa and visit your caucus, to bring a flag piece for your caucus so that all members of your own political parties can also join in and take this message back to their own communities.
Each student will also complete a school We Will Remember flag piece that will be stitched to form a school remembrance flag. The student piece will have a maple leaf at its centre with the student's name at the top and the name of their soldier on either side. Below each soldier's name, the student will provide the personal background of the soldier and a tribute.
The schools will sew the flag pieces together with a ten-inch white border around it. At a school ceremony, the students on the tour will lead their entire student body in taking the pledge of remembrance. Then every student in the school shall sign their name on their school remembrance flag.
In our We Will Remember program, we will also have our students symbolically and literally accept the challenge of John McCrae. On April 8, many of our students will light a torch of remembrance at Essex Farm and take it to Vimy Ridge. On the morning of April 9, each student will have the opportunity to carry a torch of remembrance during our silent student march into Vimy Ridge. Ninety-five years to the day, the youth of Canada will once again be united as they climb the hill of Vimy Ridge.
At a student-led ceremony at Cemetery No. 2 and during the national ceremony at the Vimy monument, our students will light a symbolic eternal flame. That evening, all the students will gather together for dinner and a birth of a nation celebration. I invite you to join the students at Vimy on April 9 to share their pride of country and history--to stand with them, to walk with them, to celebrate with them.
The year 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge and the 150th birthday of Canada. Our students will return in 2017 to bring the Vimy light of remembrance home to Canada, which will then travel across Canada visiting schools and finishing its journey on Parliament Hill on July 1.
Mr. Chairman, I can assure you that Canadian students do care and they do remember. Their passion to remember is contagious. I ask you to give pause and think: if this many youth are motivated to attend the 95th anniversary, what can we expect for the 100th?