Thank you, Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to be here this morning, although I'm not a regular on the committee.
Obviously, this is an extremely relevant topic, and particularly so, based on a little experience I had at our Remembrance Day ceremonies on Friday. The normal procedure is for us to walk from the Legion office downtown to the cenotaph, and we walk with all of the veterans and try to stay as much in step as we possibly can with all of those who know it a lot better than I do. One of the interesting aspects that I witnessed this time around was that we normally travel to the cenotaph and all the school kids are waiting there for everyone to arrive, but this year they actually changed that process and had the grade school participants actually walk with the veterans, beside them.
To me it was an example of the fact that they are now engaged in this process. They felt part of the process; they weren't standing on the sidelines watching but were also marching with the veterans.
Part of the whole process, certainly in listening to your presentations this morning, is the experience you're building up in these young people. I think their ability to engage in this process is paramount, from a teaching perspective.
We have the 95th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the 100th anniversary of World War I. You're inspiring and educating all of these young people, and my question is how we turn the tables on them and ask them how they can help us. Instead of our speaking to them about what history is all about, how do we get them engaging the rest of Canada in this process?
I love what you said, David. We need to celebrate our victories, and I don't think there's any better way than to have young people involved in educating us as to what those celebrations should be all about.
I ask for your input on how we can turn in that direction, so that we get them engaged.