Mr. Speaker, exactly 50 years ago the war ended in Europe and the end of the world conflict, which came on August 15, 1945 with the surrender of Japan, seemed imminent.
Today we celebrate the triumph of freedom and democracy. But we also commemorate the sacrifices made by those to whom we owe this victory and this legacy of freedom and democracy.
The road to victory was a long and arduous one. From Italy to France, from Belgium to the Netherlands, tens of thousands of our soldiers gave their lives to liberate Europe from its oppressors.
Today we want to thank them, all those who served on the front, the sailors and airmen from every part of Canada, the merchant seamen, the nurses, all the men and women who risked or lost their lives in order to defeat tyranny.
We must never forget that more than a million of our fellow citizens enlisted in the Canadian forces during the second world war; 100,000 were wounded and more than 45,000 made the ultimate sacrifice.
Although far from the conflict, the whole of the American continent was profoundly touched by the war that had inflamed Europe. As thousands of young people left for the front, thousands of other citizens contributed to the war effort on the home front in the factories, on the farms and in the militia.
I would like to recall the particularly heroic role played by thousands of soldiers from Quebec who fought in the Netherlands, side by side with their fellow citizens from other Canadian provinces. There was the Régiment de Maisonneuve, the Fusiliers Mont-Royal, the Royal 22e Régiment and the Régiment de la Chaudière.
The extent of human loss and the horror of the suffering inflicted on nations during this endless war are beyond belief. The figures themselves which refer to thousands of dead are shocking but fall far short of expressing the grim facts. For instance, they do not reflect the horror of the concentration camps and the genocide of the Jews.
And at home, who can adequately describe the sorrow of mothers and fathers who lost a son in the flower of his youth? What can we say to widows and orphans, brothers and sisters, bereft of a loved one who went overseas and met a hero's fate on the battlefield? The most eloquent and authentic memorial to those who died is the silence that prevails among the little crosses that mark the grassy graves, row on row, in cemeteries spread over Northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
These people went into battle and these lives were sacrificed so there would be no more wars and so future generations would be spared this horror and suffering. Unfortunately, many bloody conflicts are raging throughout the world.
And now, consider those who have accepted the responsibility for maintaining peace in the world. I am thinking of the UN peacekeeping force and especially our Canadian soldiers now on peacekeeping missions. Every day they witness acts of atrocity against civilian populations.
The ceremonies being held today hold out some hope that the world will remember the horrors of the second world war and learn the lessons it teaches us.
Mr. Speaker, we must continue to thank those who died and those who survived this monstrous tragedy. Let us honour their memory.