Speeches - Reports

 

Aug. 10, 2006

SHEARWATER, N.S. - - Members of 12 Wing Shearwater participated in a ceremony to commemorate Peacekeepers Day yesterday at the Cole Harbour Place Cenotaph.   Representatives of the federal and provincial governments, members of CAVUNP, and peacekeepers attended the ceremony, which was sponsored by the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping (CAVUNP).

The 12 Wing Pipes and Drums, the Wing Chief Warrant Officer, Chief Warrant Officer John Quilty, and the Acting Wing Commander 12 Wing, Lt.-Col. Jeffrey Boucher, represented the Wing.  Lt.-Col Boucher made a well-received speech, whose text is included below.

On behalf of Col Blair, the Wing Commander of 12 Wing Shearwater, I would like to thank you for allowing me to come and share some comments on Peacekeepers Day.

Peacekeepers Day was created to recognize the service of Canadians around the globe in the service of peace.   Members of Canada's armed forces and diplomatic service have served on peacekeeping missions around the world and, since 1992, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and municipal police forces have also served admirably in Peace Support.  Peacekeepers Day is to recognize the tremendous efforts of Peacekeepers and their families past, present and future.

9 August was chosen because on that date in 1974 the greatest single loss of Canadian lives on a peacekeeping mission occurred.   Nine Canadian Military peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Emergency Force in Egypt and Israel were flying in a Canadian Forces "Buffalo" transport aircraft on UN service which was shot down by Syrian air defence missiles while preparing to land at Damascus, Syria, on a regular re-supply mission. There were no survivors.

Canada's involvement in United Nations peacekeeping dates back to 1956, when it contributed to the force sent to the Middle East to monitor a ceasefire between Israeli and Arab armies. Over the years, Canadian peacekeepers have participated in 66 missions in the Middle East, the Balkans, India-Pakistan, Africa and Central America.

Fifty years ago, Lester B. Pearson, Canada's leading diplomat and later our Prime Minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his visionary plan to send troops from UN member states to get between warring factions in international trouble spots.

Lester B Pearson Nov 2 1956.

"We need action not only to end the fighting but to make the peace.... My own government would be glad to recommend Canadian participation in such a United Nations Force, a truly international peace and police force."

Those words ring as true today as in 1956.

The one military role that has been ongoing within the Canadian Armed Forces that always seems to meet with the approval of the Canadian populace is Peacekeeping.  Maybe it's the harmless image that is conjured up through the term Peacekeeping but many of the missions have been anything but peaceful.  Anytime a military force is called upon to interdict on the will of people there is a potential for violence.  But the good that has been accomplished over the years by peacekeeping missions far outweigh the cost of war in dollar value and more importantly in human lives.  Overall, military peacekeeping forces have been very successful whether they involve the use of heavy armament or lightly armed observers.

While Peacekeepers Day in Canada falls on 9 August, specifically to commemorate the deaths of nine Canadian UN peacekeepers it also remembers the 120+ mostly military peacekeepers killed so far in far-flung places where the United Nations has intervened to save lives.

Inspired by the 1988 awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to United Nations Peacekeepers, the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal (CPSM) was created to acknowledge the efforts of Canadian Peacekeepers. This includes all serving and former members of the Canadian Forces, members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other police services, and Canadian civilians who have upheld the fifty plus year tradition of Canadian peacekeeping. 

I would like to read the description of the significance of the Peacekeeping Medal as it tells a very real story.

The medal's obverse features the three Canadian Peacekeeper figures that top the Peacekeeping Monument in Ottawa. One is an unarmed United Nations Military Observer, holding a pair of binoculars. A second soldier, a woman, shoulders a radio, while the third stands guard with a rifle. 

Above them flies a dove, the international symbol of peace. This side of the medal also bears the inscriptions PEACEKEEPING and SERVICE DE LA PAIX, together with two maple leafs.

The medal's reverse shows the cipher of Her Majesty the Queen on a maple leaf surrounded by two sprigs of laurel and the word CANADA.

The medal's ribbon consists of four colours green, red, white, and United Nations blue. The green represents volunteerism; the red and white are the colours of the Canadian flag; while the white and blue represent the colour of the United Nations' since 1947. The red and white carry additional meaning. White is associated with purity, and peacekeeping is one of mankind's highest ideals. Red is symbolic of the blood shed by Canada's 114 peacekeepers who have fallen it service to their country while on peacekeeping and observer missions.

When you see the Peacekeeping medal on a soldier, RCMP officer or civilian please remember what it stands for and that Peacekeeping is a means to longstanding Peace and not necessarily earned in a peaceful or friendly environment. 

The military will continue to have ready volunteers to assist in Peacekeeping missions worldwide certainly not for the glamour, recognition or the money but because it continues to be the right thing to do.

The world owes our Peacekeepers a debt of gratitude, so thank you all very much from a grateful Military.

- 30 -