View From the Legislature

This coming Monday, Remembrance Day, Canadians will again have the opportunity to stop, remember and to be grateful for people they have never met, but who have sacrificed for them. Each November 11th we are encouraged to remember that the freedoms that we have in Canada are in fact, not free. For generations, young men and women have put themselves at risk to fight for the freedom that we enjoy today. Thousands of them made the ultimate sacrifice.

The service of Canadian’s has benefited more than just our country. Around the world there are countries who both remember and honour the sacrifice that Canadians have made for them in the past to help defend their freedom or to help maintain peace in their nation.

Some of the names of those who have paid the price for our freedom we know. Sergeant Major Frederick Hall, Corporal Lionel Clarke, and Lieutenant Robert Shankland (famously of Pine Street renamed Valour Road in Winnipeg) along with many others read aloud at local Remembrance Day ceremonies every year. But most of those who have served and sacrificed we do not know. And they did not know us. Yet they offered their own lives so that generations of Canadians would live in a free country.

As the years have passed since World War I and World War II, there has been a concern that attendance at Remembrance Day ceremonies would begin to dwindle as veterans of these great wars grew fewer. And yet, in Steinbach and other communities, the ceremonies remain well attended, and people continue to express through their presence the gratitude they have for those that have served in the past and those that continue in that service today. It is a reflection of the genuine thankfulness Canadians have for their country and those who have helped preserve its freedom

Just this past summer, thousands of people lined up at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada in Winnipeg to see a rare World War II Lancaster bomber. The Lancaster is one of the most famous allied bombers of the Second World War. The particular Lancaster that was on display in Winnipeg had a special connection to our province. Named the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster, it honours Andrew Mynarski who grew up in Winnipeg and who was killed at the age of 27 trying to rescue a fellow crew member aboard a Lancaster that was on fire and that was crash landing. Mynarski’s sacrifice was honoured with the awarding of the Victoria Cross.

The Lancaster visit to Winnipeg was part of the marking of the 100th anniversary of the inception of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The RCAF has been active around the world for a century including in more recent times in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as supporting Canadians here at home during natural disasters including the 2020 flooding in British Columbia.

As in all times in Canada’s history, there are challenges in our nation. And yet, we remain among the best places to live in the world. On Remembrance Day, we take time to be grateful for those who have served in the past and who serve today in support of our great nation. And we particularly remember those who did not come home, and made the ultimate sacrifice.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.