Madam Speaker, I am grateful to my colleagues for granting unanimous consent for me to speak on the subject of Remembrance Day and Veterans' Week.
I want to speak briefly. I certainly echo the words of all my colleagues, particularly the very detailed enumeration of the number of wrongs done to our veterans. I offer a huge thanks to all past members of the Canadian Armed Forces, as well as those currently serving in uniform for Canada, of course.
I just want to reflect very personally. As we gather every November 11 at a cenotaph in our local community, we all notice the missing. As the years go by, there are veterans who are increasingly frail and slip off this mortal coil. In the last year, we lost two such heroes. It was a little more than a year for Charles “Chic” Goodman. In my community of Sydney on Vancouver Island, we know of the heroism of Chic Goodman as one of those Canadian soldiers who helped liberate the Netherlands and who helped liberate people who had been held in Nazi death camps.
We think of Peter Godwin Chance, a hero of many campaigns, who died this year at 103. Every year, including November 11, 2023, he stood unaided, making his way to the cenotaph while carrying a wreath. As we think of these veterans, we remember members of our own family. My husband's father, Kendal Kidder served in North Africa, Sicily and Italy; he was in command of one of the landing crafts at Normandy on D-Day. My closest friend, Farley Mowat, served in Italy.
We used to be able to hear the stories of these people and hear what it was like for them. In many cases, they were not young men as soldiers; they were boys. I think of the words of Joyce Meyer, who said, “Courage...is fear that has said its prayers and decided to go forward anyway”.
There was tremendous courage, but there were also very young men, boys really. In every war, they go forward and they die. We must do everything we can to recommit ourselves to respecting their service, to ensuring their care, to ensuring that they know our gratitude and to ensuring that we cease sending young people into war. I know the word “fight” might not sound right in this context, but we must fight for peace.
We will never forget. As Canadians, we will always work to protect peace.