Canadians discussing veterans in July? Finally!!

If I had known what a commotion would be caused by someone urinating on the National War Memorial, I might have done it myself several years ago. I will explain myself before I cause another fracas. For several years in the mid-to-late 1990s it was virtually impossible to get the attention of Canadians when it came to several veterans issues.

I followed the plight and tried to advocate on behalf of Merchant Marine seamen who had to go on hunger strikes (plural) to force the government of the time to provide them with their pension dollars. I personally witnessed the federal government non-action that almost resulted in Canada to losing John McCrae’s war medals, possibly letting them fall into American hands. Further, I watched in astonishment when the Dutch government approached Canada to invite it to participate in a formal burial of a Canadian soldier who had died in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II (his remains had recently been discovered), only to see two federal departments hesitate and obfuscate, initially claiming that no funds could be made available to send a contingent overseas to pay their respects. Only after a local media campaign did they relent and allow a select few to travel to the funeral. How about the Ortona vets’ pleas that went unheard when the CBC headed to Europe to cover a reunion of soldiers who fought in Ortona while the federal government refused to fund the travel expenses of a few veterans who fought there, survived, and wanted to attend?

To those who were so outraged by the activities of a few disrespectful and irresponsible hoodlums on Canada Day I ask: where were your letters to the editor expressing outrage and angry phone calls to the media then?

Three young men urinated on a monument and a lynch mob of citizens from coast to coast immediately formed to string them up. For almost a decade the federal government time after time sat back and either ignored or cast veteran-related issues aside all in the name of the almighty buck. Few people, if any, said anything then. Ironically, while federal politicians never once failed to be seen without poppies and were always quick to give their pithy statements, when time came to do something concrete to address one veteran concern or problem, they were always conspicuous by their absence.

If three people urinating on the National War Memorial is what it took to get Canadians from coast to coast and from all walks of life, even all the way up to the PMO talking about veterans, their issues and the respect they deserve in the middle of the summer, I am grateful. Perhaps we have the attention of enough people now that we can finally start to do something concrete to meet the needs of those who are still with us and preserve the memory of those who have gone.

To all who are outraged at what happened on Canada Day: stay mad – demand justice… not only punishment for those who desecrated the monument, but for each and every veteran on whose behalf your emotions have been triggered this past week.