cenotaph

Thursday November 11, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 11, 2021

Remembrance Day should only be about remembrance

In no small irony in the context of today’s ridiculousness, we owe a debt to the world wars for the advancement of vaccines.

May 5, 2000

Prior to the Second World War, soldiers were as likely to die from disease as battlefield injuries — a five-to-one ratio in the Spanish-American War and a two-to-one ratio in the American civil war, according to a piece on theconversation.com . And then came the outbreak of the 1918 Spanish flu that “accounted for roughly half of U.S. military casualties in Europe.”

By the Second World War, the American army “forged a new partnership with industry and academia” that resulted in the development of the flu vaccine and “targeted influenza, bacterial meningitis, bacterial pneumonia, measles, mumps, neurotropic diseases, tropical diseases and acute respiratory diseases,” according to The Conservation article by Kendall Hoyt, an assistant professor of medicine at Dartmouth College.

This victory in the advancement of science is a lesson that needs to be applied today. However, we also shouldn’t lose sight of the soldiers of days gone by who rolled up their sleeves like they always did in service of a greater good.

They didn’t blink at the notion of taking an “experimental” vaccine that most of them surely would have thought was of less consequence than the bullets whizzing by. As Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe noted this summer while encouraging today’s generation to get vaccinated: “We’re not asking you to storm the beaches of Normandy.”

November 11, 2020

Now, think back to just one year ago when these now 90-year-old men and women — all masked, because this is what we asked them and everyone else to do — stood without complaint in the cold in front of cenotaphs across this nation to honour those who they left behind so many years ago.

They will do the same thing in this second  pandemic  Remembrance Day. They will do this for as long as they can … which, sadly for us, won’t be much longer.

They will soon be gone, but we should always honour their duty and decency on Nov. 11. This day should never be co-opted for some other cause or political message.

August 28, 2021

The thought crosses one’s mind this Remembrance Day for several reasons — the most significant being the disgustingly hideous memes and social media messages floating around the Internet tying the sacrifice of these men and women to the “freedom” of not getting vaccinated.

This is actually the antithesis of the what the greatest of generations stood for when they went overseas and fought and died to preserve our values, freedoms and way of life. Their sacrifices are why idiots of today get to wrap themselves with the flag and say  pretty much whatever they please without repercussion.

But no one gets to say they are doing this on behalf of veterans or those who died for freedom. (Continued: Regina Leader-Post) 

 

Wednesday November 11, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 11, 2020

Remember our war dead and a nation that endures

There will be no parades of aging veterans marching to Canada’s war memorials on this Remembrance Day and in this pandemic year.

May 8, 2020

There will be fewer wreaths laid at these monuments to the nation’s war dead and fewer people to lay them or stand silently to hear “Last Post” played at 11 a.m. by buglers who must keep their distance from everyone else. 

In some places, the public has been ordered to stay away from the cenotaphs to stop the spread of COVID-19 and participate at home in virtual ceremonies or, alternatively, to simply put on a poppy and pause for two minutes wherever possible.

That’s how it must be. No matter where you are in Canada, this Remembrance Day will be unlike any in memory, and for this full blame lies with a microscopic and potentially lethal virus.

June 6, 2019

But there’s no reason this Remembrance Day can’t be as meaningful and, yes, instructive as every one that preceded it. In fact, as Canadians cope with a pandemic that has changed every aspect of their lives, what this country went through in the past facing enormous threats under extreme duress can inspire us today, in a very different kind of national emergency.

Of course, more than anything else, this Nov. 11 is a day when every person in this country should recall the sacrifices hundreds of thousands of Canadians made in two world wars, in the Korean and Afghanistan wars and in decades of peacekeeping and even peacemaking missions in the world’s hot spots. 

June 6, 2014

More than 100,000 Canadians died in those 20th century wars and another 158 soldiers from this country perished in Afghanistan earlier this century. Hundreds of thousands of other Canadians have been permanently injured in body or mind by war. 

Those who have served in this country’s military and emerged unscathed by the experience should be in our minds, too. Many of them put their lives on the line. All were in one way or another defending the interests of their country when it called. They all deserve our recognition and unflagging gratitude.

That deliberate act of remembering in this very strange year may bring unforeseen benefits, too. Like us today, the Canadians who lived through two world wars — the second of which was the most deadly and devastating in human history — also faced terrifying dangers, witnessed great suffering, experienced the painful loss of loved ones and had massive changes thrust upon them.

May 5, 2000

But the country got through it. For instance, in the Second World War, which dragged on six years, basic foods such as sugar, butter, tea, coffee and even meat were strictly rationed to Canadians at home so those serving overseas would have enough to eat. 

The rationing of gasoline and tires limited travel and getting in or out of the United States became difficult. On the east coast, blackouts were strictly enforced with air raid wardens going door-to-door to ensure blinds were drawn so enemy submarines would not see merchant ships illuminated by city lights. Taxes were hiked as Ottawa ran up massive deficits to fund the war effort.

Pandemic Times

Renowned historian J.L. Granatstein has accurately described that war effort as “a complete mobilization of Canadian society” in which “Canadians consciously and deliberately set aside their individual desires for the common good.”

On this Remembrance Day, wear a poppy for the sake of those who served Canada and, too often, paid the greatest sacrifice in doing it. But remember, too, what other generations of Canadians have endured, what they gave up and how they prevailed. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Tuesday November 12, 2019

November 12, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 12, 2019

Don Cherry fired by Sportsnet following offensive on-air comments

February 6, 2004

Brash, outspoken, opinionated — longtime hockey broadcaster Don Cherry was never afraid to ruffle feathers during his “Coach’s Corner” segment on “Hockey Night in Canada.”

His latest outburst cost him his job.

In a two-paragraph statement Monday afternoon, Sportsnet confirmed that it was cutting ties with Cherry.

“Sports brings people together — it unites us, not divides us. Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night’s broadcast, it has been decided it is the right time for him to immediately step down,” said Sportsnet president Bart Yabsley. “During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for.

October 12, 2011

“Don is synonymous with hockey and has played an integral role in growing the game over the past 40 years. We would like to thank Don for his contributions to hockey and sports broadcasting in Canada.”

Cherry’s ouster came after a segment that sparked a swift backlash from inside and outside the hockey world. The network apologized Sunday for Cherry’s comments about his belief that new immigrants don’t wear poppies, and in turn, don’t support veterans.

March 11, 2014

On Monday — Remembrance Day — the network took it one step further.

Cherry, 85, had singled out new immigrants in Toronto and Mississauga, Ont., where he lives, for not honouring Canada’s veterans and dead soldiers.

“You people … you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that,” Cherry said Saturday night. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.”

June 6, 2019

“Coach’s Corner” and HNIC are broadcast on CBC in a sub-licensing deal with Rogers Media, which owns Sportsnet.

Cherry did not respond to multiple phone calls seeking comment. He has yet to publicly apologize.

The Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council said it was so overloaded with complaints about the segment that it exceeded the organization’s technical processing capacity. The CBSC said it was dealing with the broadcast under its normal process, but was not able to accept any further complaints.

Segment co-host Ron MacLean apologized Sunday evening. (MacLeans) 

 

Wednesday November 7, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 7, 2018

Feds promise $165 million in compensation after shortchanging 270,000 veterans

November 11, 2015

Repaying hundreds of thousands of veterans with disabilities and their survivors for a calculating error that deprived them of some of their pensions for seven years will cost $165 million, the federal government said.

Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan revealed the error and compensation package Monday even as the federal NDP called on the government to ensure all money earmarked for veterans’ benefits is actually spent.

O’Regan’s department miscalculated adjustments to the disability pensions of 270,000 veterans, RCMP members and their survivors between 2003 and 2010 because it didn’t properly account for a change in personal tax exemptions, he said.

June 17, 2016

“Most individuals will receive a few hundred dollars, while the maximum amount to be paid would be a couple of thousand dollars,” he said.

The miscalculation was identified last year by veterans’ ombudsman Guy Parent, who told the Canadian Press his team stumbled upon the problem while looking at another issue and subsequently flagged it to the government.

While O’Regan promised all veterans would be compensated, payments aren’t expected to begin until 2020, which the minister blamed on the sheer number of Canadians affected by the problem.

December 5, 2014

Matters are complicated as many as 120,000 of the affected veterans, notably those who served in the Second World War and in Korea, have died. O’Regan’s spokesperson, Alex Wellstead, said their survivors and estates will still be eligible.

Parent said the error would have had a disproportionate impact on low-income veterans from the Second World War and Korea who relied on their pensions, and while he couldn’t say exactly how it happened, he hoped the government will ensure it is not repeated.

News of the error and compensation came as the New Democrats tabled a motion on Monday designed to pressure the Liberals to spend $372 million that’s been earmarked for veterans’ benefits in recent years but wasn’t spent.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said veterans have received inadequate assistance and faced barriers when it comes to accessing services and support for far too long because money approved by Parliament ends up going unused and being returned to the treasury. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

Tuesday November 11, 2014

Tuesday November 11, 2014Illustration by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 11, 2014

This Remembrance Day will be different: Cpl. Cirillo has made it real

(Written by Richard Foot) This year, at cenotaphs across Canada, Remembrance Day will be different. For the first time in many years, the ceremonies will feel relevant and raw to most of the gathered pilgrims. Corporal Nathan Cirillo’s killing has made sure of that.

Canadians first started communing around military cenotaphs in 1902, at the end of the Boer War, when the nation indulged in a great, patriotic burst of memorial-building. Monuments to Canada’s first foreign war were erected in city parks and town squares from Victoria to Halifax. Over the next decade, huge crowds would gather around them to celebrate – yes, celebrate – the imperial victory in South Africa.

By 1918 the mood had changed dramatically. The trauma and slaughter of the First World War meant that new memorials would be built, but this time they were mostly sombre creations – like the National War Memorial where Cpl. Cirillo was gunned down on Oct. 22 – designed not to celebrate military achievement but simply to honour the dead. The hour of annual remembrance was fixed at 11 a.m. on 11 November, the time and date of the Armistice in Europe.

Over the century that followed, through the Second World War, the Korean War and Afghanistan, Canadians have faithfully gathered around memorials each November to remember the legions left dead or wounded in these conflicts. When memories were still fresh – especially in the aftermath of the Second World War, with its huge number of returning warriors – Remembrance ceremonies were undoubtedly more relevant occasions. Many Canadians would have personally known the pain and heartache of war in their lifetime.

The war in Afghanistan certainly made real the risks and consequences of war. Suddenly, there were families in our own communities with sons and husbands killed and injured overseas. These families were evidence of real loss and real pain. This was the first taste, for many Canadians, of military sacrifice in our own lifetime.

Yet somehow, the war in Afghanistan was so complex – the causes and solutions too hard to figure, the battlefields too unconventional, the enemy too hard to identify – that this counter-insurgency campaign and its veterans failed to transform Remembrance Day from an exercise of historical memory, into something most of us could instinctively feel in our hearts.

But now that transformation has occurred.

Nathan Cirillo is just one soldier, and not even a war veteran at that. Yet his shocking murder as he stood on sentry duty at the National War Memorial – the unforgettable image of him lying on the granite, directly alongside his First World War comrade inside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – has vividly linked the past with the present.

The Unknown Soldier’s remains were brought to Ottawa in May, 2000 from an unmarked Canadian grave at Cabaret-Rouge military cemetery, not far from Vimy, France. Which means the soldier in the tomb in Ottawa very likely fought and died in the famous Canadian attack on Vimy Ridge in 1917.

Thursday October 23, 2014Two fallen soldiers lying side-by-side at the National War Memorial – one from a heralded battle in history, one from our time, taking his last breaths beside the other.

Nathan Cirillo’s death is a tragedy. But Cpl. Cirillo now speaks to Canadians in a way the Unknown Soldier can’t – by allowing those of us with little or no connection to war to know, if only fleetingly, what the killing of a Canadian soldier feels like; how it sucked the air from our very lungs, upon hearing the awful news.

This year the crowds at cenotaphs across the country will surely be larger. The ceremonies will be more poignant. And our understanding of loss – and the need for memory – will be more real. (Source: The Globe & Mail)

 

LETTER to the EDITOR

Hamilton Spectator, Wednesday November 12, 2014

Thanks to The Spectator for posting and to cartoonist Graeme MacKay for drawing the poignant picture in Tuesday’s paper. We will forever remember the sacrifice of Hamilton’s own Corporal Nathan Cirillo on that infamous day in Ottawa.

This picture will serve as a sad (but also proud) reminder for his family to always treasure. And also act as a reminder to all Canadians that we lost our innocence on that day. Remember also all our service men and woman who place themselves in harm’s way to keep us and the rest of the world a safer place to live in.

“Lest we forget,” not only on the 11th of November at the 11th hour, but every day.

David Porter, Burlington

 

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