For a ninth year in a row, people young and old gathered Saturday at Heroes Park in Beaconsfield, Que., for the annual ceremony in honour of Remembrance Day.
Cadets, scouts, veterans, politicians, and civilians were all on hand for the same reason.
“I’m here just to honour our veterans, who have served and soldiers who are still serving and just kind of show an everlasting theme of peace,” said Samara O’Gorman, a Montreal writer and actress who read out an original poem during the ceremony.
Peace was on the minds of many, as the conflict in the Middle East continues to rage on – one that touches many Canadians.
“War is terrible. Part of the message during Remembrance Day is to try and always think of a world that is peaceful – to strive for peace,” said Greg Kelley, Liberal MNA for Jacques-Cartier. “And in these complicated times, I think that is an important message too, that we have to try to envision a world of peace.”
The ceremony was just one of several taking place across the province on Nov. 4, in the lead-up to Remembrance Day on Nov. 11.
One of the messages organizers and veterans hope to pass on is the importance of remembering our past in order to build a better, brighter future.
“To nurture the duty of remembrance in the youth,” said retired major Richard Grattor, the chair of the Heroes committee that organized the ceremony. “That’s why we have Scouts, that’s why we have Air Cadets here, in the community. Just to build and maintain the duty to remember. If we don’t pass that to the generation that follows us, we will lose that tradition.”
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