Last week, honourable senators in this chamber and Canadians across this country commemorated the eightieth anniversary of D-Day, the Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy, the largest seaborne invasion in history and the final stage of the Allied push to defeat Nazi Germany.

Today, I rise to recognize an event that took place five years later which is inextricably linked to this monumental event. This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.

The aftermath of World War II saw much of Europe devastated. Almost 37 million Europeans died in the conflict, and the continent was left with refugee camps, rationing and millions of homeless people and orphans.

In addition, the Soviet Union was threatening elected governments across Europe. Privation remained a grave threat to freedom and stability. Thus, to deter Soviet aggression and prevent the revival of European conflict, 12 nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949. In the Treaty’s famous Article 5, the new allies agreed that, “an armed attack against one or more of them . . . shall be considered an attack against them all” and that following such an attack, each ally would take “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force” in response.

Canada was a proud founding member of NATO, our main contribution being Article 2, which committed members to maintain a free political system and to promote economic cooperation. This marked the first peacetime alliance that Canada had ever joined.

NATO maintained peace and offered a successful deterrence to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The alliance was transformed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but instead of disappearing, it attracted the membership of most former Warsaw Pact countries, which says a lot. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 spurred Sweden and Finland to seek membership, which now includes 32 nations.

NATO, which has been called the most successful alliance in history, will celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary at its summit next month in Washington, D.C. In his speech to the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association last month, which I attended with our colleagues Senators Gignac, Patterson and Carignan, Secretary General Stoltenberg assured delegates that Ukraine will be an urgent priority at the summit.

Colleagues, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it would have been unusual for me to make a statement about this or any other military alliance. Like many Canadians, I took many things for granted. But that terrible and brutal invasion has made it crystal clear to me how important NATO is to our country’s peace and security and how important it will be to a free and democratic Europe and a free and democratic Ukraine as we go forward.

NATO offers more than a defence of territory; it is a vital force for peace, democracy and our way of life.

Thank you.