Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about last week's D-Day commemoration from the perspective of the children.
There is no doubt of our gratitude and honour for Canadians and Allies who fought and fell in the cause of our collective freedom. It is important that this torch of remembrance be passed to following generations, and that is what we saw happening last week. We saw hundreds of young Canadians on the beach at Juno and at the Canadian cemetery at Bény-sur-Mer. They were learning about and speaking about the service and sacrifice of their grandparents, and I know that they will share their Normandy experiences with their classmates.
We also met many French children, who are absorbing the gratitude of their elders for what Canada means to their life in France today.
One of the simplest and most moving of our events was on the beach with 48 local students. They each picked up sand from the beach and gave it to us to bring back to Parliament as a sign of their young gratitude, sand like I hold in my hand, and then we all sang O Canada together.
We all express the sentiment of “Lest We Forget”, and I was very encouraged by what I know will become the mantra of young people on both sides of the Atlantic: We will remember them.