Come
November each year, most of us turn our thoughts to those who gave their lives
in the defence of Democracy and the fight against tyranny and oppression.
Many
of us will choose to wear a Red poppy, some a White one. I have no issue with either but I choose to
wear a red one. The white poppy is the
choice of pacifists but the message is the same. We honour the memory of those who served and
died and we pray that the last war will be the last war, ever.
For
those who feel that the one colour or the other is an affront, maybe we should
recall that these people died so that others could have their own beliefs.
While
we honour those that died by wearing a poppy, we also show our respect to all those
who served. Some enlisted to fight the
Kaiser, others to fight against Hitler and his allies, some chose to enlist
during peace. They may have had no
intention of going to war, but when war came, they went too.
We
have lost the last of our veterans of the Great War. Our veterans from WWII are aged and their
numbers grow fewer each year.
These
people have earned our respect, as have the veterans who served in places such
as Korea, those that served as Blue Berets in many countries around the world,
and to those who served in more recent conflicts, such as Afghanistan.
You
have earned my respect, and I honour the memory of your comrades that went to
these places but never returned.
To those that served during peace time, You have
my respect as well. You were willing to
stand guard and prepared to go to where ever our government felt you were
needed.
This is why I find it unconscionable that our
government finds it necessary to show an incredible lack of respect to those
who have served.
This morning the radio reported that Windsor
Council voted unanimously to request that the government rescind the decision
to close the Windsor Veterans Affairs Office.
Among those who use the services of this office are WWII veterans who
will no longer be able to visit a local office when they need to. The nearest office will be in London, a long
trip for someone in their 80s which will likely require someone to drive them
there.
The news has also been reporting on injured
members of our Canadian Military who are being discharged months before
qualifying for their pensions. This
number includes a Member of the Services from London Ontario who lost his legs
in Afghanistan as well as others who suffer from various bodily injuries or
lost limbs or from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. You are no longer welcome in the Military.
And the government has decided to appeal a Court
ruling that allows our injured veterans to sue the government to obtain a
disability pension rather than the lump sum payment that our government has
inflicted on them.
Why?
Because the government of Stephen Harper feels it is a better use of tax
money to close these offices, to discharge these soldiers, and to give lump
sums to injured veterans than to treat them with the respect that they have
earned. They have been reduced to
numbers on a piece of ledger paper in Jim Flaherty’s office, these people are just
too expensive to deal with otherwise.
Why do I care?
Just like Stephen Harper, I am an accidental Canadian. I am a Canadian simply because my mother gave
birth to me here just like Stephen’s mother did for him. My parents however are not accidental
Canadians like Stephen’s parents are. My
parents are (or in my Mother’s case was) Canadian by choice. They were both born in a foreign country and
chose to immigrate to Canada.
My parents both grew up under Nazi
occupation. WWII was not something seen
in the theatre or read about in the papers, it was part of their lives. While they were spared the horror of war in
their streets, they still lived under the vigilance of their Nazi overseers.
My Mother once told me that in the end days of
the war, when the Allied Forces were taking control of former Nazi held
territory they hoped to see General Montgomery.
They wanted to thank the British for fighting in their war from the
beginning. She would have been just as happy
to see Canadians, we flew the Union Jack at that time, our Forces were in the
war from the beginning as well. Our
Forces would have easily passed as British in her eyes back then.
This is part of the reason that I respect those
that choose to enlist.
This is part of the reason I honour those who give
the ultimate sacrifice.
I owe these people a debt of gratitude.
Stephen Harper on the other hand sees these
people as an expense, a cost to be controlled or cut. Just another item on the long list of
accounts payable. Our Armed Forces are a
wonderful backdrop for photo ops, but soldiers who are no longer able to fight
are too expensive to keep. Pensions for
injured vets and Veterans Offices are just too expensive to maintain.
A strange way to thank the people who chose to
defend Canada don’t you think?
Each year I buy a poppy to show my
gratitude. If it costs me a few dollars
a year in income tax to keep offices open and allow the Member of Our Armed
Forces to have proper pensions then so be it.
But if you ask me, I’d rather my money be spent on our veterans than on
TV commercials.
In Remembrance,
BC
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