Remembrance Day for reflection and connection

After a weekend of protests across Canada calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, a month of witnessing the horrors of war, 20 months of Russia’s war on Ukraine, disregarded ongoing wars in Africa, and looming wars that could destroy us completely, I’m confused why so many here ignore Remembrance Day. I think I have some insights on why.

November eleventh is a weird day in Toronto, where there is little military presence, and Remembrance Day is largely brushed off, especially amongst my circle of progressives. Perhaps to avoid honouring participation in war or praising the Canadian military, whose sexual crimes understandably leave many queasy? I think folks are also wary of Remembrance Day being conflated with right wing politics and associations.

Except that I have very close associations. This left leaning artist is married to a military officer who has served in the airforce for over 25 years and has deployed twice. In 10 years, we lived 5 of them apart. Needless to say, I love and admire him. And what about the other army brats out there who have watched our parents go away, worried they might not come back, and when they do, are traumatized and broken? It changes your lens, as does coming from a country where you’ve survived war. War isn’t just a social media debate, its bloodstains are on clothes in family closets.

I also think partisan avoidance of Remembrance Day snubs those who have risked their lives to serve, reducing them to fools who participated in wars we don’t agree with, often in hindsight. There is an elitism here that doesn’t acknowledge that joining the military gets many out of poverty or provides opportunities that aren’t accessible to everyone. In ignoring the significance of November 11, we sell ourselves short on REMEMBERING and REFLECTING on what our role in war has been and should be. Especially now, when war is more real on this planet than it has been in decades. Lest we forget all the lives lost in war, ALL wars, including the ones happening now. It seems there could be symbiosis in sentiment here, instead of separation.

In this land space now called “Canada” we have the privilege of relative day-to-day peace. Since the colonial attacks on Indigenous People, outside nations have never attacked “Canada” directly. Our current collective consciousness is one of safety, while horrible atrocities happen in far off lands. While we deliberate from our golden towers, I wonder: If a bomb was dropped in our backyard, who would we expect to defend us? Or should there be an organized system of defence at all? What are the alternatives in a worst case? What are you willing to do in the direct face of war? Do we even imagine it as possible here? I am a pacifist who wants NO wars and completely different structures of power on this planet. But we are not there yet…

So today, these are questions I ask after this weekend. Remembrance Day might seem arbitrary or even controversial, but I offer another point of view to break down binaries and divisiveness between good people who want a better world. They come in many different uniforms.