“Today, as Veterans’ Week begins, we honour generations of Canadians who have answered the call to serve – with courage, resolve, and a profound sense of duty to our country.
Since Confederation, more than 2.3 million Canadians from every province and territory, including many Indigenous communities, have served at home and abroad in times of war, peace, and uncertainty. Among them are the more than 4,000 Canadians who served in the Persian Gulf, a deployment whose 35th anniversary was commemorated this year.
They served Canada. Now Canada serves them.
Throughout Veterans’ Week, Canadians will wear poppies, gather at cenotaphs and memorials, and remember.
This year, that remembrance carries a new sorrow. Four soldiers lost their lives in a devastating fire at CFB Wainwright while training to defend our country. We hold their families, their friends, and fellow soldiers still in recovery in our thoughts.
They answered a call to service. With their bright futures still before them, they chose to safeguard ours.
This Veterans’ Week, we honour their sacrifice not only in remembrance, but in our determination to keep building a Canada worthy of it.
Lest we forget.”