Speaking Notes for

Dr. Rey D. Pagtakhan , P.C., M.P.

59^th Anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy

Honoured guests, veterans, ladies and gentlemen:

I am so pleased to be able to participate in a ceremony in this beautiful garden dedicated to the Canadians who fell in the Normandy campaign and in the liberation of Europe. This garden, some eight years old now, is a special and peaceful place and a fitting tribute to so many who gave so much.

The Canadian Battle of Normandy Foundation Memorial Garden remains a point of departure for visitors, a dignified place of quiet reflection, honouring the memory of all the naval, army and air force personnel who took part in the Battle of Normandy, and identifying all the communities they bravely liberated.

For 10 years now, the Foundation has been dedicated to educating the Canadian public and the world at large about Canada's role in the Second World War, and the price our veterans paid. Their activities have run the gamut from fundraising for a plaque commemorating the liberation of Caen, to organizing annual tours for Canadian university students to study land, sea and air operations and visit European battlefields and cemeteries.

As well, the Foundation sponsors young Canadians to provide guided tours of this Memorial Garden during the summer months, and has mounted exhibitions and published battlefield guides. These are but a few of their splendid efforts. Efforts that have contributed magnificently to raising the profile of our veterans.

The credit for designing this garden goes to 12 architectural students from Montreal and Ottawa Universities. Young people are such an important part in the remembering and the passing on of the stories of the Normandy Veterans. Those who visit here have undoubtedly discovered and perhaps have been surprised by how well and how fondly those who survived enemy occupation remember their Canadian liberators. We know that the students' contribution to the memory of Canadians who fell fighting for the freedom of an occupied nation has not gone unnoticed.

This garden is not just about the past, but about the future. We live in uncertain times. Difficult times. That is why the work of the Foundation and its students must continue.

Everyone who visits this special place will reflect on the experience. Their reflections will continue a remembrance of things past and evoke hope and determination for peace in the future.

To the Canadian Battle of Normandy Foundation and to the Museum we offer our most heartfelt thanks for keeping those memories and hopes alive.

Thank you.