Speaking Notes for

Albina Guarnieri, P.C., M.P.

Aboriginal Spiritual Journey -
Beny-sur-Mer Ceremony of Remembrance

Today, we present ourselves to more than two-thousand Canadians whose lives ended on this soil, whose graves are marked with the maple leaf, and whose mark on the world lives on in our history.

We have to ask ourselves whether the future we are building around them is worthy of the sacrifices these men made for our future.

This week we have been reminded of perils of the past which troubled this country decades ago.

Every grave marker communicates in the fewest possible words the human cost, the human sacrifice and the very human stories that are the true epics of war. The lives lived and lost, the horrors seen and suffered, the futures dreamt but never lived.

The stories of suffering and loss of life that you have witnessed have touched us forever. The friends that you have left behind have left a profound marks on our heart. We live in a world of peace, yet the sadness of the past rests with us.

For the 33 Aboriginal soldiers buried here, theirs was a very personal saga of Pride and Prejudice.

The early chapters of their lives were likely filled with a struggle against prejudice and poverty. But they would write a new chapter filled with pride and purpose, daring and defiance. There would be passages of victory, scenes of harmony, and acts of bravery. But the final tragic chapter was written right here in Normandy sixty-one years ago.

In the Year of the Veteran, our aim is to reopen the library of human achievement that is the legacy of all our Veterans.

We want Canadians to glimpse into the lives that made their history. The personal stories of Veterans, of 3,000 First Nations Warriors, and an untold number of Inuit, and Métis Veterans.

Today, here at Beny-sur-Mer, 33 young Aboriginal men lay along side their Canadian brothers. Men like Private Charles Doucette, who was executed on June 7, 1944 at l'Abbaye d'Ardenne.

Doucette and 19 other captured Canadian soldiers were killed between June 7 and 17, 1944.

Today we are joined by four members of his family and we join them in mourning a great loss and honouring a great Canadian.

This famous cemetery is known not just for men who left their families behind, but for the family they continue to rest beside. Twenty-one of the men here are buried beside one of their own brothers. Three sons of the Westlake family of Nova Scotia died here in the first week of fighting.

But on D-Day, every one of these men was part of one Canadian Band of Brothers. When our soldiers came ashore together, all cultural divides had long been washed away. Here there was only one Canada, and it was a force for good, a force for freedom. Here our nation was united in purpose and duty.

Today, we are united again. United in a battle against the amnesia of time and the struggle to be worthy of their sacrifice.