QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Veterans Affairs
Remembrance Day
October 23, 2025
Welcome, minister, to the Senate. We all received your communication on Wednesday of this week, which urged parliamentarians to lead efforts in our communities to promote Remembrance Day activities. As someone who studied Canadian attitudes, beliefs and behaviours throughout my career, I’m interested in the research your department may have undertaken or research you’re familiar with about Canadians’ participation in remembrance activities. What percentage of Canadians wear a poppy or other commemorative symbols? Do you have any data on how many Canadians participate in Remembrance Day activities? Further, can you speak to any trends you are aware of in these behaviours? Thank you.
Thank you very much for the opportunity. It’s nice to hear that the communication has made it out. I appreciate that.
We knew you were here today.
Thank you. Specific to data on the number of individuals who possibly wear a poppy, I don’t have that information available to me right now, but I would be happy to follow up with you at a later time.
As it relates to the topic of commemoration in general, for me it is so important that we acknowledge our veterans more than on one day of the year. For some people, it is a focus around Remembrance Day, and for others it is a Veterans’ Week experience, but the service, commitment and sacrifice that our veterans have made — and that our current service members make — is a 365-day commitment. I’m very much committed to making sure that we have the opportunity to have these conversations on a recurring and even daily basis to acknowledge their contributions so that it’s more than just wearing a poppy as our sign of commemoration.
