Honourable senators, I rise today to remember Remembrance Day 2024. Last week colleagues gave great tributes and shared their family stories, but before we start running in so many other directions I invite you to think about that day and Indigenous Veterans Day one more time.

Many of us were in a rush to get home on Thursday night and Friday morning. Around us in Ottawa, you could see hundreds of metres of fencing being placed in high piles outside the Senate building and the National War Memorial. I hardly thought about it as I dashed to the airport. But, as I watched the ceremony on TV, I could not help but think of the many who work in the background to make that day such an important day to remember in our home communities, in the nation’s capital — including at the National Military Cemetery — and here in the Senate at the annual morning Remembrance Day ceremony with veterans present, held the week prior. If you have never attended, the Speaker of the Senate hosts a beautiful tribute service.

Like so many of you, I have been grateful to lay and contribute a Senate wreath in my home community, done this year on my behalf. I was out of the country at a Veterans Day event, and when I finished I streamed the Ottawa event. In this instance, the Ottawa service impacted me deeply — more than I can remember. There were a few reasons for this: Our world has significant, multiple, continuous conflicts and our Canadian military has been called on to assist, but, like many countries, we have deep challenges in recruiting and retaining service members. Also, as I watched the vets in Ottawa, I recognized that our oldest vets who served in those century-defining conflicts so long ago are becoming too few.

While not losing focus and not forgetting about the lives of so many, I was also taken by the number of volunteers, departments, individuals and groups that make Remembrance Day work: from the music to the cannons to looking after the needs of each veteran, the technical work, the hanging of huge TVs, the protocol, the beauty and history of the National War Memorial and the Senate of Canada Building and, if you watched it, the huge trees in the background that maintained their beautiful fall colours for just one more day.

I think at the heart of my lingering was my experience as a senator and my luck to be involved with our veterans community as a result. I sit on the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs with other senators. We have listened to very traumatized and stigmatized vets who have been candid about the incredible challenges they face. I’ve gotten to know some of these vets, and that has given me a vivid understanding of their continued battles long after their service has ended. Remembrance Day serves as a reminder of the continuing work we need to do and what we owe them for their sacrifices.

As we leave Remembrance Day for another year, the memory, the work and the support cannot stop. We must make it a priority every day.

Thank you, meegwetch.