Veterans Affairs Committee on Sept. 17th, 2009

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Do I have some more time, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Yes, another minute.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

That's great.

So as you look out and you see the future—I guess you will always continue to be looking at where you are today—one of the issues will be the challenges you have. A challenge, but also a success, quite possibly, could be with all of our new Canadians. How do we show and educate our new Canadians about the tremendous sacrifice our veterans have made for this country? With the time permitting, could you just enlighten us on these actions and initiatives?

[Derek Sullivan]

Yes, that actually is also an interesting point, because many new Canadians don't have a shared history with Canada or native-born Canadians. But what's interesting is that very often it is new Canadians who are prouder of what Canada stands for and Canadian values than some of us who take those for granted.

The conversation is very often about values in remembrance: Canadians have answered the call in defence of Canadian values. When we have the conversation at the level of the Canadian values that are important to us, these are what new Canadians embrace very much. In fact, these are very often the reasons they have come to Canada.

We work with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and as part of their orientation activities for new Canadians, we provide them with materials on remembrance to encourage the learning of Canada's history, including its military history. We've also provided some suggestions to the citizenship judges, who do the actual ceremonies, on including some remembrance messaging in their activities. This is something that we have offered, but we're also getting requests from CIC and their people for additional material.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

There's one round left for the Conservative Party, and that will complete everybody having an opportunity to question.

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

I think we're happy here.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Questions are exhausted there.

Mr. Stoffer, you have five minutes.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I don't offer this as a criticism in any way, but at the back of your poster it indicates that this poster pays tribute to those who have served the nation from the First World War to current missions. Is there any way that can be changed to include the South African conflict?

[Derek Sullivan]

Not this year. That's printed in millions of copies already. That's a very good point, and it will not say that next year.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Okay, it's already done. Thank you.

Also, I don't mean this as a criticism, but I know the Canadian Forces are doing an excellent job in recruitment in our so-called visible minority communities, through the African communities, for example, in my riding in Preston, in first nations communities, and in new immigrant communities as well. But the previous posters and the current posters don't necessarily reflect that. If you were an African-Nova Scotian child in Preston and you looked at this poster, you'd say, “That's really nice, but I don't see me in this.”

I don't mean that as a criticism, but to offer the diversity of our nation—as you know, it's changing quite rapidly—when you look at our forces, it's an excellent opportunity for people of diverse backgrounds to serve a common purpose.

I think the government does a very good job in recruiting and focusing cultural training. When women started serving in combat roles and going on ships, as we all know, the navy did such a fabulous job in teaching men and women to be able to work together in confined spaces. They can teach us in civilian ways how women should be treated in a respectful manner. They did a great job. They also do that in the cultural communities.

The pamphlets do a great job with aboriginal and African historical concerns, but the posters that go out that everyone sees are fairly Caucasian in view. I just offer that as a suggestion, that in the future a little more diversity might be helpful.

[Derek Sullivan]

Regarding this year's poster, you're right.

I'm not sure whether there are women in the poster. Yes, there are. There's a woman in it.

In fact, if you look back over the last number of years' posters, you will find that they do reflect the makeup of Canada, in terms of aboriginal veterans as well as visible minorities, men, women, French, and English. There is a diversity.

It's very difficult to be all things to all people at all times. We try to do that in all our activities, but you can end up with something that becomes quite artificial.

I take your point. It should reflect Canada, and I think we do that in most of our materials.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Maybe I'll say one last thing.

Mr. Miller talked about his schools and the great job they do. But there is one school in Mr. Kerr's riding, Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School, and for anyone who's ever been down there....

Greg, do you want to take a minute to explain what that one teacher has done?

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

As long as you're supporting the government, you keep right on going.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

It's in Mr. Kerr's riding. Inverness High School in Cape Breton does it as well.

They have these walls of honour, with pictures and some medals of the individuals and the stories about them. The kids walk by them every day. In many ways, Remembrance Day is every day in that school.

At the Yarmouth high school, that one teacher started that initiative, and it's unbelievable.

Mr. Miller and Phil are absolutely correct. It's the high schools that do a tremendous job, supported by the government and DVA. So, good job.

[Derek Sullivan]

There are teachers in—

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

You're coalition-building. You're scaring me.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Truly, the Yarmouth high school does a great job.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Order, please.

Mr. Sullivan has a comment germane to our conversation.

[Derek Sullivan]

You're absolutely correct. There are many teachers and many schools that do fabulous jobs.

One area that has been very prominent in recent years has been the Durham region. A coalition of seven high schools has come together as “Durham Remembers”. They have organized many activities in Canada as well as overseas. They were key in helping to bring the 5,000 Canadian high school students to Vimy in 2007; about 2,000 of them were under the umbrella of Durham Remembers.

As well, there's a teacher in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, who is unbelievable in what she has done. She has gotten the entire community involved in remembrance. In the announcements each morning, they honour the memory of the war dead from their community. They have the students do this. The students read the names of those who died on that day from all of the eras. I understand that they have a loudspeaker for their announcements outside so that most of the town can hear the announcements every morning as well.

There are so many initiatives that individual teachers in schools undertake across the country.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Mr. Sullivan.

I should say, too, to give credit where credit's due, that certainly in the city that I'm in, Hamilton, the municipality has done a great job. One of the councillors who happens to be in a riding I represent actually designated one of the roads as a veterans highway.

Three weeks ago, I was at a commemoration for Mark Anthony Graham, one of the soldiers killed in friendly fire. He was of Jamaican descent, as well, to go back to Mr. Stoffer's comment. A tree was planted and a plaque was laid in a park. We're trying to get the name of the park changed. It's called Olympic Park now because it has some history, but we're hoping that council will approve that it become the Mark Anthony Graham Memorial Olympic Park.

So some of our municipalities do a great job of making sure that there are city locations, city monuments, and memorials--again, at high schools, where all students pass them, all citizens pass them--to remember those, particularly from their locality, who have paid the price for our freedom.

Now we will move on to the Bloc Québécois.

You have an opportunity for questions.

All your questions are exhausted?

Okay. Then I have a couple of questions, if I may take the luxury.

Are the vignettes available to those who are lower-tech? You mentioned the glacial pace sometimes. For folks who are not tech-savvy, is there a DVD or CD available for them?

[Derek Sullivan]

I'll have to check on that and get back to you. I know we have it on DVD. I'm not sure what we do in terms of distribution of that on DVD. We will certainly find out and get back to you on that.

It is available on our website, as well, at all times, and it will be seen on television sets across the country.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Okay.

I don't want you to list them, but you had mentioned right at the beginning of your remarks that there were resources available on the website. Are they self-evident, easy to find? Is there a list of them at the left side of it, for instance?

[Derek Sullivan]

If you go into the Veterans Affairs website and click on “Canada Remembers”, you will find a wealth of information. There's a youth and educators section that lists a whole host of materials and activities for young people.

There is “Heroes Remember”, which is a collection of interview clips. These are the personal stories of veterans, their own experiences. It's not the history you'd read in history books, but it's their own experiences. There are over 4,000 interview clips on that portion of our website.

There's a Canadian virtual war memorial, which has the names of and information on the 117,000 Canadians who have died in service.

As well, with thousands of those, Canadians have provided us with photographs, articles, and letters to and from these war dead. We have posted those to the site as well. There are links to the books of remembrance.

There are many resources in that section.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Great.

Again, you mentioned that you could get your event on the web calendar. Is that easy to do as well?