Remembrance Day Petition

For the last twenty years, a Sarnia, Ontario woman, Wilma McNeill has been working to restore Remembrance Day as a statutory holiday in Ontario.

She is actually trying to have the Federal Government designate Remembrance Day as a National statutory holiday.

Currently it is up to each Province to decide whether or not they will recognize this day.

In Canada, Remembrance Day is a public holiday. It is a statutory holiday in every Province except Ontario and Quebec.

I respect that not everyone believes that Remembrance Day should be a Statutory holiday, that includes some Veterans and other members of the Armed Forces.

I personally feel that there is no one more deserving of this recognition than our troops and veterans.

We now have family Day in February as a statutory holiday in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

I have offered to help make Wilma's federal petition available on our website to those folks who would like to download one.

This is an official petition which will be read in the House of Commons later this year by Sarnia/Lambton's Member of Parliament, Pat Davidson.

The petition below can be downloaded, signed and returned to Wilma at the address at the bottom of the petition.

Remembrance Day commemorates Canadians who died in the First and Second World Wars, and the Korean War. It is held every November 11.
The first Remembrance Day was conducted in 1919 throughout the Commonwealth. Originally called Armistice Day, it commemorated the end of the First World War on Monday, November 11, 1918, at 11 a.m.: the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
From 1923 to 1931, Armistice Day was held on the Monday of the week in which November 11 fell. Thanksgiving was also celebrated on this day.
In 1931, MP Allan Neill introduced a bill to hold Armistice Day on a fixed day - November 11. During the bill's introduction, it was decided the word "Remembrance" would be used instead of "Armistice." The bill passed and Remembrance Day was first conducted on November 11, 1931. Thanksgiving Day was moved to October 12 that year.
The poppy is the symbol of Remembrance Day. Replica poppies are sold by the Royal Canadian Legion to raise money for Veterans.

The Ode of Remembrance:
They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Canadians are asked to pause and remember the thousands of men and women who sacrificed their lives fighting for freedom and democracy during the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Afghanistan conflict and during peacekeeping missions.

During the First World War (1914-1918), more than 600,000 Canadian soldiers volunteered to go overseas. As of November 2007, only one was still alive — John Babcock, 107, who was born on an Ontario farm and now lives in the United States.

The troops fought in a series of costly and bloody battles and by the end of the war, more than 66,000 Canadian soldiers had been killed and 172,000 wounded.

The 29th Battalion, part of the Second Canadian Division, advances into No Man's Land through German barbed wire and heavy fire in the right-centre of the Canadian advance on April 9, 1917. (Courtesy Veterans Affairs Canada)

They died fighting at Vimy Ridge, Hill 70, Bourlon Wood, Mons, Passchendaele and Ypres. In Ypres, Canadian soldiers were exposed to German gas attacks, yet continued to fight, showing amazing tenacity and courage in the face of danger.

During the Second World War, (1939-45) more than one million men and women from Canada and Newfoundland served in combat in the army, air force and navy. More than 47,000 men and women did not come home from that battle.

A Consolidated VLR Liberator provides air-cover for a transatlantic convoy during the Second World War. (Courtesy Veterans Affairs Canada).

Canadians lost their lives fighting in Dieppe, Normandy, the North Atlantic, defending Hong Kong, during the liberation of Italy, and in many other important air, sea and land campaigns.

As of March 2007, Veterans Affairs reported that there were 205,533 living veterans of the Second World War, including 25,684 females. Their average age is 84.

In Korea, 516 Canadian soldiers died during the 1950-53 conflict, in which 26,791 Canadians served. The battles of Hill 355 and Hill 187, among others, saw Canadians fighting in swamps and rice fields, through torrential rain and snow, in the air and at sea.

In 2003, Canada marked the 50th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice by unveiling the Monument to Canadian Fallen at Confederation Park in Ottawa.

The words "WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU BRAVE SONS OF CANADA" are inscribed at the base of the monument, which also contains the names of all 516 Canadians who lost their lives in Korean War service or subsequent Korean peacekeeping service.

As of March 2007, there were 13,943 living veterans of the Korean War. Their average age is 76.

Wreath laid by a nephew at his uncle's grave at Canadian Cemetery No. 2 at Vimy Ridge.

In 2004, Canada also remembered the 60th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, where Canadian troops suffered 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed. Of all the divisions that formed part of the 21 Army Group, none suffered more casualties than the 3rd and 2nd Canadian.

It was a huge sacrifice – and a huge factor in turning the tide of the war against Hitler's Germany.

The first Remembrance Day, held in 1919 throughout the Commonwealth, was called Armistice Day. The day commemorated the end of the First World War on Monday, Nov. 11, 1918, at 11 a.m. — the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.