Meaning of Remembrance

As a Canadian youth, you likely don't "remember" experiences of war.

If you grew up in Canada, you know that Canada has never seen war on Canadian soil. However, perhaps you have a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent who travelled to distant lands to fight terrible wars.

If you are new to Canada, you may have memories, knowledge or experiences of war from where you lived before. You may be aware of the horrors of war. However, you may have little knowledge of Canada's involvement in past wars.

You may ask: "Why did Canadians make the sacrifice to leave their families and to travel to distance lands? Many of them didn't come home for many years, and of those who did, some were badly injured or even died on foreign soil. To them, no price was too high to pay.

These Canadians made these sacrifices because they believed that all human beings have the right to live in peace and freedom.

In Veterans Week, by pausing to "remember" them, and their gifts to Canada and the world, we say "thank you" to these brave men and women who fought, and continue to fight for freedom and democracy around the world.

You can explore the personal memorabilia and oral history of Canada's Veterans at the Memory Project Digital Archives. Here, you will find photo's, letters and voices of Veterans.