Thank you, Mr. Speaker. November is the time of year when we wear a red poppy in memory of those who sacrificed their lives for us during war. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month marked the signing of armistice on the 11th in 1918; the signal of the end of World War I. At 11:00 a.m. on November 11th, the guns on the western front fell silent after more than four years of continuous war. This year, on Sunday, November 11th, I will take part in the Remembrance Day service in Hay River.
It will be with great pride that I will be taking part in this service in Hay River to remember those men and women who have served and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and peace. Remembrance Day gives us all time, for us a nation, to stop and reflect upon the sacrifices that our soldiers have made so that we continue to live in peace in this great country.
The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem In Flanders Fields. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields in Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red color an appropriate symbol of the blood spilled in war. I urge everyone to wear their poppy with pride, and hopefully everyone will have the opportunity to attend ceremonies in their communities.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sunday is Remembrance Day and I’d like to take this opportunity to speak just a little bit about the veterans, starting with the veterans and the knowledge of war that I grew up with as a child.
My grandfather, Sylvanus John Vivian Cann, volunteered to serve in the First World War when he was 28 years of age. He was already married and had three small daughters. He went off to World War I, and in later years, when you have a grandfather that wore a great big, long, wide band of metal, you’re going to hear a few war stories.
I find it interesting that my grandfather’s recollections of his time in the trenches on the front lines in the First World War always included his remembrance of serving with Aboriginal soldiers, First Nations soldiers that he served with. Now, he was no dummy, because when you’re crawling around in trenches, who do you want to have with you? People who have the expertise and the knowledge of the land and can see and hear the signs, and he often told us the stories of the acute skills and how much he appreciated that time of service.
Later, when World War II broke out, his two sons, my two uncles, Charles Stuart Cann and Thomas Bruce Cann, both went off to the Second World War and went to Europe as very, very young men. My Uncle Stuart is buried in France someplace and my Uncle Bruce did come home, but he came home very troubled, very shell shocked and lived a life where as kids we didn’t really know what was wrong with Uncle Bruce, but he would break into tears or he was shell shocked from the war and we didn’t know that as kids. The happy news for Uncle Bruce was he had met a beautiful, sophisticated Dutch widow when he picked up a little girl off the streets of Holland and took her home to her mother. My Aunt Susan ultimately came to Canada and married my Uncle Bruce, and they had a wonderful family and a wonderful life together.
My own father, who served in the British Army from 1940 to 1947 and immigrated to Canada, met my mother there, and I’m very proud of my father’s war service as well. Then coming to Hay River and meeting the many, many wonderful northern veterans who we got to know, many of whom by now have passed away, but as Remembrance Day comes upon us this Sunday, may we just say we will remember them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member for Tu Nedhe. Mr. Beaulieu.
