Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys

It is a real honour to be with you as we remember those who have died serving this country, and pray for those who are doing so today.

Canada has a long and proud history of answering calls for help, defending democracy and the downtrodden, and protecting the desperate. This country has quietly and ably filled our role as dependable ally, friend, neighbour and responsible international citizen through the First and Second World Wars, Korea, several conflicts of the 20th century and through current conflicts.

A recent example of our military’s readiness to help those in need occurred immediately after Hurricane Katrina devastated the American coast. Canadian Forces aircraft ferried Red Cross officials to stricken areas and we sent two helicopters, one destroyer, two frigates and a Coast Guard ship along with one thousand military personnel and a navy diving team from Esquimalt.

Today, as you are aware, our biggest mission is the fight against terror.
I’m sure, like myself, most of you can recall clearly the sight of the second tower of the World Trade Centre falling on September 11th, 2001. I think we all knew that things had changed quite significantly at that moment, as indeed they had.

And terrorists kept striking in the years that followed: at Bali in Indonesia; Madrid in Spain; and London in Great Britain. Their objective? To kill, maim and terrify as many people as possible. Terrorists have planned attacks against us, but so far we have stopped them. In response, the countries of the United Nations have joined together to deal with the source of this terror and Canada is a proud and responsible contributor to the mission in Afghanistan, joined by 27,000 troops from over 35 countries.

As usual, Canadian men and women are accomplishing their goals.

The signs of this success? Among other things, the Afghan economy has grown, the Afghan people have been able to choose their own leadership through democratic elections for the first time in history and over six million children now attend school. Over one third of these students are girls. To put that in perspective, five years ago, under the Taliban, only 700,000 children were able to go to school and all of them were boys.

This is what our military has always done. They protect peace, democracy and freedom. Their sacrifices through wars in Korea and Europe and through countless peacemaking campaigns, have protected our right to vote, to send our children – both girls and boys – to school, and to live and work in peace.

As the President of Afghanistan said when he came to Canada this fall, “If the greatness of a life is measured in deeds done for others, then Canada’s sons and daughters… stand among the greatest of their generation.”

Thank you to: the veterans of the last century; Canadian Forces members here today and those serving our country around the world; the families of these incredible men and women; and those whom we never had the chance to honour.

God bless.

Leon Benoit, MP