Remembrance Day ceremonies are observed all over the world in many countries, however, Canada has a very specific set of rules and displays that pertain to the commemoration of this remembrance. The national symbols, procedures and mannerisms surrounding Remembrance Day ceremonies are a part of the values that society has placed upon these ceremonies and the act of remembrance itself. To determine the aspects and ideals of war that are remembered and are still a part of social memory, a set of interviews was conducted from people of different generations. The symbols, public monuments and decorum surrounding the public participation in Remembrance Day ceremonies has to be witnessed and then discussed with many different people to gain real …show more content…
Choosing the right questions that would hopefully elicit the personal response was key to creating a method of understanding the motivations, and feelings behind Remembrance Day materiality. The attendance of the ceremony to observe the functionality of the space used, which possessed a permanent cenotaph, commemorating those fallen in battle in defense of our country and in aid of our allies in all conflicts that included Canada. To gain a better understanding of the public, and how they react and respond to the performances surrounding Remembrance Day ceremonies, the crowd was carefully watched. There is nothing to identify these attendees of this ceremony, so no express permission was …show more content…
There was however, a collective confusion of school age ceremonies for an average of five to six years. The young age in which children attend school, can impact their ability to properly observe and understand what exactly is going on in the ceremony. This suggests that some people do view Remembrance Day ceremonies as moral or social obligations later in life. All participants reported having taken part in ceremonies as they grew older, whether through a youth program like cadets or in school. The symbols of Remembrance Day are a point of national pride and do not differ much from participant to participant. While some of the participants thought that different values were placed on Remembrance Day ceremonies, the collective memory was all the same. Pride, honour and respect for those who have paved the way for us to have this life as we know it, should always be the point to Remembrance Day ceremonies. Some different generations have different ideas about the importance of being seen at a Remembrance Day ceremony, but collectively the participants make it a point to observe remembrance in their own ways. All participants reported that if we lose something so small in remembrance of something so huge we would be doomed to repeat the past and that the ideals and values
The years since the Battle of Vimy Ridge may have passed quickly, but the legacy of the Canadians whose accomplishments were great in that pivotal First World War battle lives on. Many people claim to this day that Canada came of age as a country on those hard April days in 1917. At first, through the meticulous planning of the battle, the world saw a nation capable of working together and making decisions as a team. Afterwards, with the range of technical and tactical innovations involved in the attack, the world saw a strong nation unafraid to protect and defend. In the end, through great sacrifice the world bore witness to the birth of the Canadian legacy. To conclude that the nation was born on April 9th 1917, on the Artois plains is to deny over three centuries of history during which the ancestors of millions of Canadians devoted their lives to building the country. This is why the Battle of Vimy Ridge wasn’t the birth of Canada itself, but the birth of our legacy- the ‘true’ origin of our nation.
Approximately 620,000 Canadians fought during the First World War. Nearly 700,000 if we account for the men and women that enlisted in the Canadian units outside of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and in the British forces. Of which, almost 173,000 Canadians were wounded and about 67,000 Canadians had lost their lives by November 11th, 1918. These casualties were devastating in numbers. Canada needed to regain the good faith of its people, despite the fact that it was still a colony of Britain. Canadians knew very little about why the war had started, or the significance of the events that instigated it. But, Canadians were called upon to fight it, therefore now was the greatest need for there to be better compensation for our returning Veterans than ever before. This was the time when the ground work for the Veterans Assistance Programs of today was laid down. Of ...
Good morning, Ms Dowdeswell and 9b, today let us have a look at how much have contemporary historians challenged the ANZAC legend, my hypothesis is some contemporary historians do challenge the ANZAC legend to a great extent. Wait, what is ANZAC? ANZAC is the acronym formed from the initial letters of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This was the formation in which Australian and New Zealand soldiers in Egypt were grouped before the landing on Gallipoli in April 1915. Everything started with WWI. But, how WWI began? Well, the direct cause of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. However, historians feel Militarism (Main),Alliances, Imperialism and Nationalism are the main factors which contributed to the rivalry between the Great powers that allowed war on such a wide-scale to break out. As we know during WWI, Europe was divided into two alliances — Triple Entente (Britain, Russia and France) and
An angry Trudeau replied: "There's a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is go on and bleed." "How far are you going to go?" Ralfe insisted."Just watch me!" said Trudeau. And Canadians across the country watched as, at 3 o'clock in the morning, Friday, October 16, Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act. The Press Gallery was packed. Trudeau was careful, cold, analytic - and brilliant. The invocation of the War Measures Act meant the suspension of traditional Canadian civil l...
The memorial grew out of a need to heal the nation's wounds as America struggled to reconcile different moral and political points of view. In fact, the memorial was conceived and designed to make no political statement whatsoever about the war. The Memorial is a place where everyone, regardless of opinion, can come together and remember and honor those who served. By doing so, the memorial has paved the way towards reconciliation and healing, a process that continues today.
Any person, place or event that has held the honour of being commemorated in Canada has been recognized of an extreme importance to the country. It is impossible to research commemoration in Canada without reading about world war one and two; The great wars are arguably the most commemorated events in History let alone Canada. Understanding this they are not the only events that receive attention from Canada, the government recognizes many other occurrences as, well, anything from Sir John A. Macdonald day on the 11th of January to the anniversary of the statute of Westminster on the 11th of December. I do not believe that any one event can be placed above or below another, and that they all hold a value in whatever way that may be. This Essay
Memorials not only remind people about specific events and leaders, but also sets history in stone for future generations. When creating and building a memorial for a specific person or event, many factors should be considered. Sometimes, these memorials honor great achievement while others pay homage to deep sacrifice. However, there are many ways to memorialize people or events, locally or nationally, ranging from pictures to monuments. When considering to memorialize a person or event, agencies and groups should consider purpose, location and size of the monument in order to effectively pay homage to deep sacrifice and great achievements.
When the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011 rocked New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C., the word “tragedy” was used on a grandiose level around the world. For the people who lived close enough to experience the events first-hand, they may not have even called it a tragedy; perhaps they called it a misfortune, retaliation, lack of a strong government, unreal, or maybe even rebirth. In the coming years after the attacks, everything between standing united as a nation to declaring a war had flourished; but how has that left us - the land that has no distinct ethnicity - feel about each other? Why is it that fear is usually missing in the affective mnemonics of memorial sites, which, after all, are signifiers of some of the most horrific violence in human history? Do memorials dedicated to these attacks bring us together in terms of understanding, or is it just continual collective grief? This paper will cover the global complexity of the 9/11 attacks, the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial in Liberty State Park, NJ, and factors and theories that memorials do influence a sense of complexity. The ground of public memory is always in motion, shifting with the tectonics of national identity. I chose the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial as my topic of observation as I, personally, visit a few times throughout the year to pay respects to people I personally knew who perished in the attacks to the World Trade Center. I was in the 5th grade when this happened, and had absolutely no clue what was going on until my father did not return home until two days later with a bandage wrapped around his head and his devastating recollection of what happened just before he arrived to his job. The emotions that I feel within myself compared to others will...
I chose the easy route of interview my grandpa (Dean Randel) who served in World War II as flight deck operator that signaled the aircrafts and got them ready for flight. He was station in San Diego on the USS Wisconsin which was of course a aircraft carrier. As I grew up he always told me stories of the good times he had with buddies and just living the good life. This is a first for me to sit down one on one with him and hear about what went on. Before I could even get a word in my grandpa ask me, “Do you know how Veterans Day was brought about?” I was so shock he was into doing this that I just shut my mouth and listened. He continued by saying in 1921, an American soldier -his name "known but to God "-was buried on a Virginia hillside overlooking the Potomac River and the city of Washington, DC. The burial site of this unknown World War I soldier in Arlington National Cemetery symbolized dignity and pride for all American veterans. Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an "unknown soldier” was buried in each nation’s highest place of honor (I later researched and found out it was in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe). These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I hostilities at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). The day became known as "Armistice Day.”Armistice Day of...
Prior to World War I, Canada as a nation had an identity crisis. A key factor in Canada’s pursuit of an identity are the countries that have influenced it.Through the influences that other countries have had upon the nation of Canada, Canada has been able to create a unique identity. The nation was created without one, but it was able to create a unique nation that in turn, went on to influence those who’s influences it drew from originally. Canada’s national identity is attributed to our role in World War I. Due to our British and French Heritage, there was a conflict of interest concerning the nation’s expectations. In the 1920’s, Canada achieved independence from Britain, as seen in the Statute of Westminster in 1931. Even though Canada remains part of the Commonwealth, its independence was starting to be recognized globally, through foreign and economic relations with non-commonwealth countries. When Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, Canada was automatically enlisted in the war as well. Within three week, 45,000 Canadians had been enlisted, and John McCrae was one of them.1 McCrae was a Canadian physician and soldier. On Sunday May 2nd, 1915, Lieutenant John McCrae scribbled a rough poem on the battlefield of Flanders, France. The day before, his closest friend, Alexis Herlmer of Ottawa had been killed by a shell. McCrae performed the ceremony for his friend the night of his death. As the battle of Flanders continued on, wild poppies began blooming between the marked crosses that marked the various makeshift graves.2
SCHNEIDER, Howard. (1997). "Canada's Culture War Questioned." The Washington Post Company. Online at: , consulted on February 9, 2004.
An important change took place in Ontario schools during the Second World War. As men prepared themselves to be shipped overseas, schools too prepared for the repercussions of total war. As prevailing ideologies and propaganda pushed attitudes in support of the national interest, the Ontario Department of Education too pushed similar agendas as they were seen as quasi-civil servants. During wartime, alongside being educators, teachers also became responsible for engaging children in acts of social welfare and fundraising towards the war effort. The federal government also took the glorification of war and war heroes, and replaced it with respect and honour for those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. At schools, pupils were told that they too could make the ultimate sacrifice for their country and that their every contribution brought Canada closer to victory, peace and freedom. As such, this essay will explore the mobilization of Ontario youth during the Second World War, and look at the various reforms made by the Ontario Department of Education and, how these changes were justified as being for the betterment of the youth. It will also look at how students, “too young to enlist or grasp the severity of the war”, took on serious responsibilities and acquired a sense of purpose during the war and how this spawned concerns over their moral and social health. Lastly, this essay will show that during the Second World War, colleges and universities in Ontario did not stand idly by and provided female students a platform to mobilize towards the war effort.
World War One is one of the most significant events in Canadian history and one of the most deadly wars known in history, having as many as sixty million casualties.The war may have been a brutal one as it impacted many countries but was extremely beneficial for Canada. The war allowed Canada to sustain their industrial production, monetary growth and shaped the nation to being a dominant and independent country. Due to Canada’s effective effort in the war, it portrayed a vital role in shaping its identity, Canada started to be seen as an independent country which led to and a nation that shouldn’t be underestimated. In addition, the war contributed to women’s rights in Canada which were distinguished as women accomplished jobs that men were
Washington, DC is a spectacular place. This being my first time in DC, I was in awe of everything and all the historical places I encountered. The presence of the monuments and history is what made the capitol so magnificent. Having only read about the Lincoln memorial, I never had the chance to experience the sensation of being inside such an honorable place of importance. The imposing white marble walls of the memorial and the many people surrounding it could be seen from afar. Arriving at the location, an unknown feeling came over me. I was experiencing history in a whole different level. When I think about a memorial, the term remembrance comes to mind. Seeing the statue of Abraham Lincoln brought pieces of memories from history class and evoked thoughts of what it might have felt like to be in his shoes. I was astonished by the statue’s enormousness and how grand Abraham Lincoln looked in his chair. The size of the statue compared to pictures from books and elsewhere was surreal. Abraham Lincoln was a very “powerful and prominent individual” in the history of our nation, the statue’s design and size reflected upon that. Looking around me, I wanted to know what the others thoughts were on seeing his statue and how they felt in that building. I finally had the courage to ask one or two people what they thought; they all had the same appreciation as me. Hearing about an important person or learning about them in a history book gives you vast knowledge but it doesn’t evoke the feeling of utter appreciation as the memorial does. When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, many people wanted to build a memorial in honor of him. They wanted to be able to show how important he was to shaping our nation and to “honor his existence”. Ce...
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial recognizes and honors the men and women who served in one of America's most divisive wars. The memorial was conceived and designed to make no political statement whatsoever about the war. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a place where everyone, regardless of opinion, can come together and remember and honor those who served. By doing so, the memorial has paved the way towards reconciliation and healing, a process that continues today. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial accomplishes these goals through the three components that comprise the memorial: the Wall of names, the Three Servicemen Statue and Flagpole, and the Vietnam Women's Memorial.