On behalf of Lac La Biche County, Mayor Paul Reutov at the Lac La Biche Royal Canadian Legion McGrane Branch 28 cenotaph for the November 11 Remembrance Day:
"'Lest we forget.' These are the words we speak, every year at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month."
Lest we forget that 66,000 Canadian lives were lost in the First World War. Lest we forget that 44,000 Canadian lives were lost in the Second World War.
Lest we forget that countless more men and women were wounded or returned home forever changed. Lest we forget that our veterans are dwindling, but our duty to remember and honour their sacrifices lives on.
Lest we forget that we owe our freedom to those who fought and died for it. To quote the poem In Flanders Fields, “If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep.”
In 2022, the world wars seem like a distant memory. We hear stories about them from our parents, our grandparents and our great-grandparents. With each new generation, the great conflicts of the 20th century feel more and more like old history, or threats that are too far gone to seem real anymore. We have the incredible good fortune to live in a peaceful, free country where we could forget about the horrors of the past, but we must not.
Just look at the conflicts happening around the world today. They are a grim reminder that the liberties we enjoy here in Canada cannot be taken for granted.
Lest we forget that what we have is actually a hard-won gift. Lest we forget we owe a debt that can never be repaid.
We will not break faith. We will remember, and every year on November 11, we will recall the silence that marked the end of the First World War more than a hundred years ago. They say actions speak louder than words. When the armistice came into effect on November 11, 1918, it was the silence and the lack of action in that moment that spoke loudest of all. In a way, we fall silent to remember that moment because there are no words that can express what it meant.
