Nov. 11 has always been poignant for me, but this year my observance of Remembrance Day will be all the more moving after I had a chance to visit the places where our Canadian soldiers fought and died in our defence through two world wars.
This summer, I took my family on a journey that I have long wanted to make, to tour the Canadian war monuments and the battlefields our soldiers fought on in Europe.
Every battlefield, trench or hill; every sprawling wartime cemetery; and every time I stood on the beaches of Normandy - the experiences of seeing first-hand the places where our brave soldiers fought, and all too often died, only expanded the great respect and appreciation I already had for our veterans.
It is a humbling thing to stand in the actual places where a titanic struggle between freedom and oppression was hard-fought and ultimately won by the forces of liberty.
But freedom is by no means free. The Canadian soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in those far-off lands, or who survived to become our present-day veterans, purchased it for us all at the cost of their pain and suffering and, for far too many, their very lives.
Today, many of the wartime trenches and tunnels have been covered over, and sheep graze quietly on their mounds. At Vimy, a great monument soars above a rolling plain that was once a deadly battlefield. It's peaceful there now, but the vast cemeteries at Ypres and elsewhere testify to the cost at which Canada helped to purchase that peace.
Remembrance Day is our chance to honour the sacrifices of Canadian veterans and to appreciate the bravery of our men and women in the Canadian Forces who are still serving.
Our troops have always stood up for Canadian values and continue today to defend our way of life and our sovereignty. They deserve our remembrance and our respect.
It was important to me that my teenage son Quinn experienced these places where Canadians fought, and for him to connect the sacrifices that were made there to the rights, security and freedoms that that he as a Canadian enjoys to this very day.
On Remembrance Day, it is important that all Canadians connect in some way to the valour of our soldiers' sacrifices.
