“We will remember them.”
It is a line from Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen,” which he composed in 1914 to honour the casualties of the British Expeditionary Force, who had suffered severe losses at the Battle of Mons and the Battle of the Marne in the opening phase of the war. It is also a line that is recited at every Remembrance Day ceremony across the country to honour all the men and women who lost their lives serving our county as part of Canada’s Armed Forces.
It is a sentiment that we wholeheartedly agree with, and that is why for the last number of years has advocated that Remembrance Day needs to be made a national statutory holiday.
While it is true Alberta and many other provinces recognizes Remembrance Day as a statutory holiday, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick do not.
The only national statutory holidays are Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Canada Day and Labour Day. If these holidays are universally recognized by the entire nation, then certainly Remembrance Day should be as well.
Unfortunately, recent attempts at making Nov. 11 a national holiday have been unsuccessful. In 2014, former NDP MP for Scarborough Southwest, Dan Harris, introduced a private member’s bill (C-597), which looked like it had a chance of becoming law after receiving overwhelming support from all parties in the initial states, before stalling out during third reading.
From our understanding, part of the reason why the bill stalled was due to opposition from some veterans groups who argue that by making Remembrance Day a holiday, schools would no longer hold Remembrance Day services.
We don’t believe that would be the case. A good example is our very own Barrhead area schools. Despite the fact that it is an Alberta statutory holiday, all the schools in our coverage area will be holding ceremonies.
However, if this really is a concern, it is one that can be easily overcome by enshrining Remembrance Day ceremonies and the associated activities into the school curriculum.
Do this and one of the biggest obstacles for the federal government making Remembrance Day a national holiday would finally be overcome.
Certainly, the men and women who have and continue to make tremendous sacrifices (and often the ultimate sacrifice) to protect the ideals of our nation deserve at least this much.
We also encourage all our residents to go take in one of our local Remembrance Day ceremonies. We would also encourage local businesses to close for the very minimum of half the day in respect of our veterans and to allow their employees to take in the various ceremonies.
Lyle Saumer, a Canadian Armed Forces Veteran who served with the Princess Patricia Light Infantry (including two peacekeeping tours in Cyprus), once told the Grade 5 class at Barrhead Elementary School that every day should be Remembrance Day.
This is true, but they also deserve to have a truly national day of remembrance.
