Speaking Notes for

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

Aboriginal Spiritual Journey -
Canadian National Memorial Ceremony of Remembrance at Vimy

Over the past week we have explored the history that lays quiet in the battlefields of the First and Second World Wars. Each came with enormous significance, and greater sacrifice.

But it was here at Vimy that Canada first reached the summit of military achievement. It was here that all Canadian units in the war would fight together and it was here that Canada stood alone in victory.

It is difficult to imagine what the Canadians face during the Spring of 1917 when we find ourselves. Here today in a place so sacred and peaceful.

We all glimpsed the magnificent Memorial at Vimy on our drive in. Since the 1920s, it has reached for the sky in the same field where thousands of Canadians fell to Earth.

It is a national treasure and a spectacular work of art. And in the Year of the Veteran we set out to restore it to its former glory in recognition of the men and the sacrifice it represents.

Its unveiling in 2007 will coincide with the 90th anniversary year of the struggle that unveiled the strength of Canada to the world.

The battles of the First World War, here on the fields of Vimy Ridge, were particularly brutal.

But the men of the Canadian Army Corps were up to the challenge. They fought at Ypres, Festubert, Givenchy, Courcelette and the Somme.

In the words of their commander "There they stood on Vimy Ridge on the ninth day of April 1917, men from Quebec stood shoulder to shoulder with men from British Columbia and Alberta and there was forged a nation tempered by fires of sacrifice and hammered on the anvil of high adventure."

Well tempered they had to be. At Vimy, they were taking on an enemy stronghold that had defeated the best the Allies had offered to date.

At dawn on April 9th, during a storm of snow and rain and under incredible fire, Canadians led the charge. It took three days of fierce combat to conquer the area. They took control of the Ridge. With acts of incredible courage and exceptional expertise.

When Aboriginal soldiers emerged from the trenches alongside thousands of other Canadians, a unity emerged that was welded in battle, but would take years to forge at home.

Private George McLean was one of the soldiers who scaled the walls of history that day. He was from the Okanagan district of British Columbia and was not new to military service.

While a rancher from the Head of the Lake Band, McLean had served with the Canadian Mounted Rifles during the South African War at the turn of the century.

At Vimy, he would distinguish himself and earned a Distinguished Conduct Medal for launching a solo attack against a group of enemy soldiers during the assault on Vimy Ridge. The private's citation describes the results:

Single-handed he captured 19 prisoners, and later, when attacked by five more prisoners who attempted to reach a machine-gun, he was able– although wounded – to dispose of them unaided, thus saving a large number of casualties.

Private McLean was far from the only Aboriginal soldier whose valour is part of the history of the soil.

Henry Louis Norwest, a Métis marksman would become one of the most famous Canadian snipers in the First World War. His battalion's star marksman, he earned the Military Medal in 1917 at a peak on Vimy Ridge dubbed "the Pimple".

According to his award citation, Norwest showed "great bravery, skill and initiative in sniping the enemy after the capture of the Pimple. By his activity he saved a great number of our men's lives."

The following year, during the Battle of Amiens, he destroyed several enemy machine-gun posts and achieved a sniping record that was a record for his battalion and part of the record of achievement of Aboriginal Canadians.

Henry Norwest would never again know peacetime. He was killed by a sniper's bullet just three months before the war ended.

There are no doubt numerous stories of Aboriginal bravery that unrolled during the assault on Vimy and for weeks after.

On the Memorial at Vimy are engraved the names of 35 Aboriginal Veterans who made their contribution, but who, sadly, never returned home.

Historians look back at Vimy as a defining and unifying moment in our history. Our nation captured a key summit, a Canadian stamp had been placed on world history and Canada had earned a separate signature on the Treaty of Versailles, a right reserved for only the Great Powers, the most powerful nations on earth.

The victory at Vimy may have forged a nation out of the mettle of our men in arms, but it came at a terrible price.

When the machine guns were finally stilled three days into the battle, 3500 would lie still forever on French soil. The total casualty count for Canadians at Vimy in the months leading up to the final battle approached 20,000.

The scaling of Vimy Ridge, the scale of the victory and the scale of the sacrifice, would bond Canadians together like never before.

Fifteen years before the great memorial was officially dedicated - Prime Minister Arthur Meighen stood here at Vimy and made a promise to these men:

"...Across the leagues of the Atlantic the heartstrings of our Canadian nation will reach through all time to these graves in France….we shall never let pass away the spirit bequeathed to us by those who fell..."

That is a promise we keep today, a promise our great memorial keeps in stone, and a promise all Canadians must keep in their hearts.