Remembrance Day is almost upon us. At this time of the year, we honour the sacrifices of our armed forces. While remembering these sacrifices is certainly important, we should also use this moment of reflection to consider what these sacrifices mean—to ponder the legacy of our veterans and our role in preserving it.
Perhaps nowhere in Canada is the history of our foreign military engagements more profoundly felt than it is in Halifax and Dartmouth. We were founded out of military necessity, and our harbor and people have played a key role in all of Canada’s military expeditions since. This history is etched into our daily lives.
The visual evidence is everywhere. The fortress atop Citadel Hill looms large over the city and dominates the skyline A glance at our harbor any given day is bound to spot impressive warships belonging to our Atlantic fleet or our NATO allies. If you wish to cruise across the harbour yourself, you’ll likely find yourself on the Christopher Stannix ferry, named in honour of a brave young soldier from Cole Harbour who was killed in Afghanistan in 2007.
Entire neighbourhoods have been shaped by war and the needs of the military. Westmount was an airfield and a Second World War-era military depot that was converted into a subdivision for veterans after the war. The North End as we know it emerged from the destruction of the Halifax Explosion during the First World War. The abandoned Dartmouth neighbourhood of Shannon Park and its resettled sister community Wallis Heights were built to accommodate soldiers during a post-war housing shortage.
Nor is the influence of the military felt only in our neighbourhoods, vistas, and memorials — the Canadian Forces have an enormous economic impact on our local communities. We are home to the headquarters of Maritime Forces Atlantic. Canadian Forces installations in Halifax and Dartmouth employ roughly 10,000 of our citizens, making the military the municipality’s single largest employer. Our local shipbuilding industry is handling the government’s $26-billion order for a new fleet, a 30-year program that will have a huge economic impact on the region for an entire generation.
While all Canadians honour our veterans on Remembrance Day, it is clear that we in this small corner of the map share a special connection with our nation’s military history that makes this time of the year especially powerful and moving. We who live around the harbor — who recognize the vital ancient and modern contributions the Canadian Forces have made and continue to make to our communities — have long placed a special importance on observing this solemn day.
It’s not enough for us to simply remember the sacrifices of our veterans, though: it’s important that we honour them by striving to make sure that we uphold only the highest moral standards as a nation, and that we work to make sure that future military lives are never sacrificed in vain.
As citizens, we need to stay informed about the world around us, and we need to hold our leaders accountable whenever they decide to send our soldiers abroad. We need to make sure that there is always an unambiguous, essential purpose and clear, obtainable objectives before we ever send our servicemen and women into danger.
Beyond specific engagements, we need to participate actively in the fundamental, ongoing discussion about the nature and purpose of our armed forces. Recently, we’ve taken steps to transform our military into a more offense-oriented entity. Should we really direct our limited resources to first-strike capable weapons like F-35 fighter jets, or should we focus instead on purchasing assets that will improve our ability to defend North America and bolster our peacekeeping capabilities?
Despite the recent drift towards upgrading our offensive arsenal, our military has a long and proud tradition of providing humanitarian relief; you only need to look back at their vital role in post-earthquake Haiti to find an example of the good they’ve done in the world.
Whether this remains the type of work they are known for is in large part up to us. We elect the governments that set the military agenda, and it is our responsibility to make sure that we make it clear to our politicians that we believe our Canadian Forces should be a force for hope and development in the world.
The recent election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals means we have reason to be optimistic on this front, but no matter who is in office, or how much hope we have, we owe our veterans a solemn duty to stay informed and to vocalize our concerns if the need arises.
This is our collective responsibility. It isn’t enough to wear a poppy for a few weeks each year — we need to apply the very lessons we are remembering and stand up to ensure the survival of the uniquely Canadian military tradition that our veterans have bequeathed us.
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