Speaking Notes for

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

Senate Ceremony - "Honours Veterans by Teaching Youth"

Honoured Elders and Veterans, members of the Senate and of the House of Commons, members of the Canadian Forces and the RCMP , youth ambassadors and all of you who have answered the call to honour our Veterans:

During this past year we have researched the unprecedented stories of Canadian bravery and we have honoured the accomplishments of our Veterans around the world. It was a year of awakening and compassion.

As we salute our Veterans I would like to also salute the Speaker of the Senate, Dan Hays, who has continued the tradition of launching a week of somber reflection-- in the Chamber of sober second thought.

Well, it was exactly one year ago, in this very chamber, that our nation declared 2005 to be our, Canadian, Year of the Veteran.

We are the only country in the world to have humbly offered this recognition to Veterans this year. The only country that has decided to make 2005 a renaissance year for remembrance. A time to bring the past to the future, and bring our future the power and inspiration of our past.

This year, Canada's Veterans of the Second World War were mobilized once more. Mobilized in a battle against the amnesia of time. Their Mission: to awaken the nation and inspire a generation.

And those Veterans who returned just last night from our Aboriginal Spiritual Journey in Europe certainly did their part to inspire, and this morning, I suspect they were probably struggling to be awakened from jet lag.

But we can always count on our Veterans to answer the call, and they did just that this morning, even if it wasn't on the very first ring of their alarm clock.

In the Year of the Veteran, we said we would go that extra mile for our Veterans and our Veterans went thousands of extra miles for us.

Theirs was a tour of duty through Italy, France, Belgium, Holland and the Far East. We followed the path to peace and found the footprints of valor and an endless trail of sacrifice.

Wherever we went we discovered shining moments of our history, and rediscovered why we are so proud to be Canadian.

In Holland, we saw a nation embrace the Veterans who brought liberation sixty years ago. We watched as hundreds of thousands lined the streets , waving Canadian flags and flagging a legacy of honour that earned our nation's place in the world.

In Belgium and France, we returned to a countryside where so much of our history is bound by the soil.

In cemetery after cemetery, columns of fallen soldiers are remembered by row upon row of gravestones etched with the maple leaf.

They stand as signposts to the world ahead that, the future is founded on the sacrifices of the past and that so much of that sacrifice was Canadian.

And no Canadians stood taller in defence of this land than our First Nations, Métis and Inuit Veterans.

This past week, Aboriginal Veterans and Elders were transported across an ocean and across a sea of time.

It was a voyage that was the first of its kind-- a unique journey-- a trail blazed by great Canadians through a century of sacrifice.

Our Veterans returned to the scenes of their youth. Where, the elders called home the spirits of soldiers whose courage soared on foreign battlefields, but whose brave hearts fell silent as they fell to earth.

The spirits were summoned to make their final journey to rest with their ancestors and rest in the peace they earned for a grateful nation.

In every battle of the First and Second World War, Aboriginal Canadians volunteered for action.

Names like Tommy Prince, Private George Maclean, and Henry Louis Norwest, stood out as portraits of pride and purpose, earning awards for valour and victories of character.

Many of these young men found themselves fighting for democracy when they themselves were not allowed to vote in Canada. They were asked to free the land of others when they did not feel free to pursue the promise of their own land.

But when the dawn rose on D-Day, the light found our Aboriginal Veterans united as one with all Canadian troops.

When this Canadian Band of Brothers came ashore, cultural divides had long been washed away.

There was only one Canada on Juno Beach. And it was a force for good. A force for freedom. And a source of pride that would last for generations.

In those days and now, Aboriginal Veterans could rely on their spiritual elders for guidance through the forest of life.

They gave them the strength of spirit that defines their legacy. And this past week, they were joined by a troop of young Aboriginal writers.

Their mission is to preserve the sacrifices and achievements of our Veterans as a source of pride, history and inspiration for generations to come. Thirteen of these young agents of memory are here with us today.

The spirit of teaching and learning has been present throughout this spiritual journey. During the ceremonies and the visits to historic sites, Aboriginal Veterans have been recalling their exploits to the young representatives who accompanied them.

We thank all the Veterans who continue to teach younger generations about their wartime experiences, their service, and their impact on the Canada we know and cherish.

During this past year, Canadians have demonstrated more than ever before their gratitude toward the men and women who have served our country in times of war, military conflict and peace.

Next week, right here on Parliament will, we will be dedicating the Seventh Book of Remembrance. It is inscribed with the names of 1300 Canadian Forces members who perished in the service of Canada since October 1947.

Each of these names represents the scale of sacrifice that continues to be asked of Canadian Forces personnel as our nation continues to be a force for peace and security in a troubled world.

Throughout this Year of the Veteran, we remember our past while we plan for a future that will never forget.

Our pledge to "Honour Veterans by Teaching Youth" is the theme of Veterans' Week 2005. As we look around this grand chamber we see Veterans representing the full spectrum of Canada's military-- and Canada's military history.

From the Italian Campaign to the Korean War, from Dieppe to peacekeeping operations in Cyprus, and the many women who served with the WRENS, CWACS, RCAF-WDs, Nursing Sisters, the Red Cross and other service organizations.

Sitting beside them is the future they served to protect. The cadet corps, scout troops, students and youth leaders.

The Year of the Veteran: has been about forging this connection, bridging the generations. This year's Veterans' Week Poster is set in the image of a real Canadian family, where service is a value that is lived up to and passed down.

The Lawson family brings together under one roof our dual goals of remembering the past and inspiring the future. We are honoured by their presence today.

Witnesses to the horror of war of the last Century will soon be lost to us. That is why it is so important to pass along their stories. We count on families such as the Lawsons and teachers such as Blake Seward for their support in protecting our knowledge of our military past.

Dear Veterans, we count on you to retell your stories and share your memories. You have fought in the name of freedom. You know that Canadians will never forget your sacrifice.

As we approach the end of the Year of the Veteran, we look back on the work that will live on into the future.

We have struck new coins, cast new memorials, issued new stamps and Year of the Veteran Canada Savings Bonds. We have begun the work of restoring our monuments including the largest project of its kind at Vimy Ridge. And we have brought the treasures of our history back to the surface of the Nation's consciousness.

In May, we took a long awaited stride into the future, with the passing of a new Veterans Charter and its investment in the future of future Veterans.

But this summer we were reminded that the years too soon ahead will be years that will sadly be without Veterans of the Second World War.

A year ago in this place, we were all buoyed by the presence of Smokey Smith as he returned from our pilgrimage to Italy. He had lived to see the people of Cesena embrace his legend as it was cast in bronze in their town square.

He lived to see the celebrations of VE-Day in Holland and he lived to feel the embrace of Canadians for their last surviving Victoria Cross winner.

Smokey called on all of us to rediscover our history and honour the men he so humbly called the real heroes buried on foreign soil.

This week, our Aboriginal Veterans paid tribute to those Canadians, as over three thousand townspeople from the City of Ypres paid tribute to them. Since the end of the First World War, the town has stood silent at precisely 8 o'clock each night for the playing of the Last Post at the memorial for the missing at Menin Gate.

But on this chilly November night, thousands of years in Aboriginal tradition would be brought to the present. And a message would be sent to the future as thousands of red poppies would rain from the sky and small children would race to eagerly pick up those poppies and pick up a tradition that will endure for generations to come.

Here in Canada, this Veterans' Week, we too want to pass on our own tradition of remembrance.

We want to cast new light on a glowing past and a glaring debt we all share. It is a debt we cannot pay back, so we must all pay it forward by sharing the duty to make every year the Year of the Veteran.