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Results: 31 - 45 of 85
David Loveridge
View David Loveridge Profile
David Loveridge
2021-04-28 16:10
Thank you very much.
I think I'm going to take an angle from the perspective that we have a clear responsibility to maintain 1.7 million memorials or commemorations around the world. Many of those commemorations are over 100 years old now. This involves maintaining not only the graves and the grave markers, but all of the memorials that were built in places such as Thiepval and the Menin Gate, or the India Gate in India.
They're large resources. They're large in scope and large in size. I think our obligation should be to maintain what we have, make sure that we do our veterans proud and that we properly commemorate them going forward. That's an investment that's in perpetuity, from our perspective, and I think it's important going forward.
View Darrell Samson Profile
Lib. (NS)
—just with your expertise, how easy would it be to put those dates on the cenotaphs, the 7,500, that aren't on them now?
David Loveridge
View David Loveridge Profile
David Loveridge
2021-04-28 17:12
From a pure physical ability, it would be easy. From a political perspective, it may be not so easy.
View Luc Desilets Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. McLellan.
Mr. Loveridge, we are short on time, but I'd like your opinion with respect to overseas memorials compared to those chosen in Canada and Quebec.
Is there sufficient funding on both sides? Is there an area, overseas or in Canada, that is being left behind?
David Loveridge
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David Loveridge
2021-04-28 17:14
My understanding is that the funding in Europe is sufficient to meet the requirements for the memorials in the short term. I have heard nobody say that there was not sufficient funding in Europe. I'm talking specifically about the VAC memorials that we care for under the commission.
In Canada we don't have a lot of memorials, but we do have more than 228,000 grave markers, which I think many of you may be aware were not being well maintained. That's why we're in this five-year project right now to care for the backlog.
I would hate to see us go back to the shortfall funding that we had prior to this project. Understanding what's required to maintain our grave markers, then, which are memorials here in Canada, would be very important going forward.
View Scot Davidson Profile
CPC (ON)
Thanks very much for that.
I have a Silver Cross mom who works for me—her son was killed in action in Afghanistan—and she was very disappointed by the Liberal government when they failed to invite them to the Afghan memorial unveiling. She got a letter two days after the unveiling. I want to know what we're doing currently to make sure things like that don't happen again and that they're always involved in the commemoration process.
When there's a commemoration process, is there going to be outreach especially to families, I would say, of those who have recently been killed in action? Is outreach going to take place?
View Scot Davidson Profile
CPC (ON)
I'm asking anyone who's involved in commemoration, but I'll leave that. That was just an upsetting incident that took place.
That's something we have to look at: if there's going to be any commemorative unveilings like there was with the Afghanistan memorial that families are notified on that.
Second, I think—
Steve McLellan
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Steve McLellan
2021-04-28 17:31
It's an interesting question. I think that for solutions to determine the best way collectively as Canadians to honour these people—those who lost their lives as well as those who suffered—there needs to be a broader conversation.
We spend an awful lot of time, and rightfully so, on the First World War and Second World War, and I applaud that 100% and support it, but you've alerted us today to the Afghan women and men who have come back. They all left something on the sands of Afghanistan, if you will, as our Mounties do when they have served. There are some great tragedies, sadly, that have happened recently in the world of policing and that I think need to be represented.
As for how we do it exactly, I couldn't tell you, but I do know that the Mounties do a capable job, a very, very good job, of recognizing those who have lost their lives. They do an annual memorial service and so on, and on Depot their names are recognized on a cenotaph.
I think what we need to do is make sure that we, as Canadians and agencies, have that ability to place that name, if you will, and then, most importantly, that we tell the rest of Canada to come and see it and pay attention to it. Through standing in front of those cenotaphs in Arcola, Saskatchewan, or Yorkton, Saskatchewan, or on Depot, people say, “Okay, this is critical. Man, these people made a difference.”
Standing next to a Mountie who knew that person whose name is there, that matters, and it needs to matter. We need to continue to tell Canadians why it matters. Otherwise, we'll continue to make the mistakes we've made in the past. Let's not do it again in the future.
View Andy Fillmore Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Andy Fillmore Profile
2021-04-28 17:35
Thank you to the witnesses for their time today.
One of you said that we are all connected to service in some way. It was very nice of Scot Davidson to share the story of his grandfather.
I'm going to hold this up. That's my grandfather. Maybe he knew Scot's grandfather. He was also at Vimy Ridge. He was injured there. That was him when he was signing up freshly to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry a long time ago.
He was lucky. He came home and he started a family and I was able to take my seat in Parliament to help to participate in the democracy that he and others gave so much to defend. It's a great privilege to be here with all of you.
Ms. Dromaguet, two years in a row now we've missed the Battle of the Atlantic gala. You'll remember the famous photograph of the survivors of the Battle of the Atlantic. We have that photograph each year and the group gets smaller every year. I'm just so terrified of going back from 2019 to 2022 when we'll be able to do it again and how much that group will have shrunk by then.
To all of you, thank you for the work you do to commemorate and remember the sacrifices that have happened, that have been made by Canadians over many years.
I want to bring it to memorials and physical monuments. I represent Halifax as the navy town so I'm going to go to the navy by way of example. Here in Point Pleasant Park we have the anchor of HMCS Bonaventure, the Bonnie. It is a monument to people who lost their lives in service during peacetime.
There are a lot of monuments like it around the country whose ownership is not quite clear. They suffer from vandalism, from age. In the case of the Bonaventure monument, it's shoreline erosion because it's right on the edge of the ocean. We recently were able to coordinate among DND, VAC and a local survivor's group of the HMCS Kootenay disaster whose shipmates' names are on that monument, and we were able to bring that monument back in time for the 60th anniversary of the Kootenay disaster. But it wasn't easy. It wasn't straightforward.
Using that as an example, I'm wondering if any of you might have some advice for us on how we can care for these many smaller monuments throughout our communities across the country that commemorate those who have fallen.
I'll start with Mr. McLellan, given your domestic mandate, but if others would share any wisdom, I would be very grateful.
Steve McLellan
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Steve McLellan
2021-04-28 17:38
Thank you.
I can be very crisp on this.
We have many young people who are lamenting the fact they can't get out and socialize. We have many young women and men in this country 18 to 25 years old, 30 years old, who want to be cause supportive. If we give them a cause, it can be two days' work, five days' work; it could be a committee of young people who would support the necessary work. I think they would do all kinds of things, the physical work to take off the graffiti, to call on sponsors, to do the work that's necessary and to share the stories. I think there are lots of young Canadians we've not engaged in this, and we've asked our veterans to serve again by putting their cash and their time towards it.
Let's get our young people active. I bet they'd be more than enthusiastic.
View Andy Fillmore Profile
Lib. (NS)
View Andy Fillmore Profile
2021-04-28 17:38
I think it's a brilliant idea. That brings labour to the equation.
There's also something about funding though. It was a rather expensive bit of shoreline restoration.
Are there any experiences perhaps from the other witnesses from overseas monuments how other countries or other veterans organizations are managing the funding stream that preserves these monuments going into the future?
Don Cooper
View Don Cooper Profile
Don Cooper
2021-04-28 17:39
I can comment quickly on France, since I know it a little.
Generally, as in Canada, they often fall under the municipalities' purview, and the municipalities will look after them and have a sense of history that gets them to do that.
The youth aspect is really important. That's a great idea that Steve brought out.
In France and in Holland in particular, both countries, they get the youth out there to put wreaths and little Canadian flags on the graves, so they're involved, essentially in commemoration. That's an important aspect whether you're removing graffiti or something else. So stick with the idea.
David Loveridge
View David Loveridge Profile
David Loveridge
2021-04-28 17:40
I'll be quick.
We have a fair bit of experience with it. A lot of regimental units especially over in England and Europe put together memorials. It's easy to fund for the memorial; it's difficult to fund for the life-cycle maintenance of the memorial.
Part of that, I think, is the same in Canada. People want to build memorials, and those are all good things, but unfortunately it's who owns it afterwards, and who maintains it, and where the funds come from. Those are the kinds of questions we need to be asking.
View Luc Desilets Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to come back to what Mr. Loveridge was just talking about.
Ms. Bailey, some time ago we were approached by a heritage association located in France. This association looks after the maintenance of a memorial site we're talking about, a site that is very important to the 22e Regiment. It's the Canadian Mont-des-Cats memorial in northern France. Compared to Vimy, this site isn't as significant, as it's a small place.
Do you think Veterans Affairs Canada has a funding strategy to help these kinds of second-class memorial sites?
Caitlin Bailey
View Caitlin Bailey Profile
Caitlin Bailey
2021-04-28 17:42
For now, yes. There's a program in Canada under the umbrella of the commemorative partnership program, which is designed to fund the renovation of second-class monuments, that is, small monuments, community monuments, and so on. This applies only to Canada. That's kind of the problem. There's no similar program for monuments elsewhere in Europe.
Mr. Loveridge said earlier that the question was complicated in terms of who owns it and who provides the funding. Is it up to France or Canada? The regiment may not even exist anymore or it may exist in a different form today. There's a lot of complexity in this, but I think it would be a good start to open up this program to monuments like the one you mentioned.
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