Mr. Speaker, I had the honour of being present at the Governor General's residence this morning to witness one of my constituents, Rose Fine-Meyer, receive the Governor General's award for excellence in teaching Canadian history.
She created an interdisciplinary studies course entitled “Archives and Local History”. It is accredited as part of the Ontario curriculum and couples an understanding of primary historical documents with first-hand research of communities and local history as they stand today.
This teacher being honoured today discovered that historical documents from World War I are not being scanned and housed electronically for safety. Rather, these old documents are being left to crumble with age. These precious documents tell the stories of many brave Canadians who gave their lives for this country.
We need to preserve the memory of our veterans and their sacrifices so that we can pass it on to our children like Ms. Fine-Meyer has done for so many years at Humberside Collegiate.
The government needs to take urgent action so that our veterans' stories and the sacrifices of the past can serve as a lesson for future generations of Canadians.