McKenzie: A poignant reminder
Bob McKenzie Blogs
TSN.ca Talent Blog
11/11/2008 11:50:38 AM
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It is called Remembrance Day and we are supposed to take two minutes of solemn reflection at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, but the truth is there have been far too many occasions we need to remember from the days, weeks and months that have just now passed us by.
So while the poppies will come off after today and the mainstream recognition for our veterans of gone but not forgotten wars is stowed away for another year, there is something we really need to remember each and every day until further notice.
That is, we are at war. Canada is at war. Now.
I'm not sure how many people fully appreciate the magnitude of that. The armed conflict for Canadian troops in Afghanistan is indeed a real war with real casualties - 97 Canadian soldiers have been killed there; many more wounded or injured -- but because it's being fought so far away, because it is a somewhat unconventional war waged against an enemy that is difficult to find let alone defeat, and because the battle does not really affect or alter the average Canadian's day-to-day lifestyle in any appreciable way, it is ridiculously easy to forget all of that.
But there's no forgetting that if you live alongside the Highway of Heroes.
The Highway of Heroes is what Highway 401 between CFB Trenton and Toronto is called because it is the path our fallen soldiers take when they arrive home. The bodies are repatriated at CFB Trenton and the motorcade - the black hearse containing the soldier's casket with the black limousines carrying the family of the fallen soldier - then speeds along the 401 to the Coroner's office in downtown Toronto for the official autopsy.
Living in Whitby, just east of Toronto, I do not even want to guess at how many of these ceremonial drive bys I have been witness to, but it's a lot. And I must tell you for those who live in other parts of the country, this is a chilling and stark reminder that Canada is indeed at war and Canadian troops are in combat, harm's way, every minute of every day of every week of every month until further notice.
The Highway of Heroes ceremony is the best and worst of our country.
The worst because it represents a loss of Canadian life. The best because there is perhaps nothing quite so touching as ordinary Canadian citizens from all walks of life coming out to stand on the overpasses on the 401 between Trenton and Toronto, with their Canadian flags, alongside police, fire and emergency vehicles to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers.
I recall the very first time I saw it and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. This was long before the official Highway of Heroes signs were put up on the 401, before anyone thought to give it a name. It was dusk and I was driving home along the 401 eastbound from the TSN studios in Scarborough and noticed a fire truck with its lights flashing on an overpass. I didn't give it much thought. But on the next overpass, there was a police car with its lights flashing.
I wondered what was happening. I recalled not too long before that there was terrible incident where a man threw a child off an overpass in Toronto and I wondered if there were some fear that this was happening again. Curious about what it was, I called the CTV newsroom - CTV and TSN share the same building - and explained what I was seeing and asked what was going on.
I was told that police, fire and EMS personnel wanted to honor a Canadian solider who was killed in Afghanistan and they were engaging in this overpass salute as the motorcade went by.
On that night, just as I exited from the 401 in Whitby, the fallen soldier's motorcade sped by in the westbound lanes of the highway and that was probably when I first truly realized Canada is at war.
Since then, unfortunately, that scene has played itself out over and over again. Far too many times and, sadly, there will be more to come.
On another occasion, I was picking up my son at his school in upstate New York and driving him home for the summer. It just so happened our drive home coincided with the repatriation of a fallen soldier and we were probably only 15 or 20 minutes ahead of the motorcade as we passed through Trenton. So all the way from Trenton to our home in Whitby, every overpass was packed with people, emergency personnel, lights flashing, flags waving. My son had never seen this before, blissfully unaware that Canada was at war and that some of those who have been killed in combat were younger than him.
That day left an indelible imprint on him, as it does on anyone who witnesses the ceremony.
But I do fear that so many Canadians who never see this are simply unaware of the reality that we are at war.
They would do well to pick up Christie Blatchford's excellent book, Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death From Inside the New Canadian Army. Or Outside The Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the words of its participants, with a moving foreward by LGen Romeo Dallaire.
If you read these books you will become fully aware to the reality of war and the fact that we as a nation are fighting one.
It's a strange war, but a war nonetheless.
I'm not sure where it's all headed. I do know this, though, it's a righteous war. The Canadian soldiers there are doing so much more than fighting the Taliban. War is all about constructing schools and hospitals, helping the Afghans to a better life. The work being done there by Canadian troops is honorable and admirable.
But like any war, this conflict in Afghanistan is going to come under greater scrutiny in the days, weeks and months ahead.
Those who know far more about it than I will say that for all the good work that is being done, the odds of ultimate success - driving out the Taliban and allowing Afghans to govern and protect themselves -- are greatly stacked against the Canadians and NATO troops there, that this "war" lacks a comprehensive approach and the requisite resources have not been fully provided to do the job properly. Still others will point out that no invading army has ever won a war in Afghanistan, where the rules on conventional warfare go out the window.
So, yes, that debate will go on for some time and Canada's participation will be tested, especially with growing concerns about the economy on the home front. But whatever the future holds for the war in Afghanistan, the one thing we all must be aware of is that Canada remains at war, Canadians are on the firing line in harm's way.
And we need to remember that, not just on Nov. 11, but every day.
