It is my distinct honour to stand in this Legislature and speak today in recognition of Remembrance Week and Remembrance Day. Every year on November 11, Canadians pause in a moment of silence to remember the men and women who have served, and continue to serve, our country during times of war, conflict and peace. We acknowledge the efforts and the sacrifice of these special Canadians and their families. We pause for two minutes of special tribute and we attend commemorative ceremonies in memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice for us in:

—the South African War, or Boer War, from 1899 to 1902;

—the First World War, from 1914 to 1918;

—the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945;

—the Korean War, from 1950 to 1953;

—the Gulf War, from 1990 to 1991; and

—the Afghanistan War, from 2001 to 2014.

I mention all of these wars and conflicts simply because it is important that the service and the sacrifices of Canadians in all of these is never, and will never be, forgotten.

For more than 100 years, millions of Canadians have proudly served our country in uniform. While the Canadian Armed Forces are known to put their lives on the line to support international operations, they also fulfill important roles on home soil.

During the recent COVID crisis, our Canadian Armed Forces came to the aid of Ontario, as well as other provinces, with seniors in long-term care homes. They did so at the request of local civil authorities and provincial governments to help protect Canadians and minimize the impact of the health crisis. It is incumbent upon us all to remember what they found in these homes and to ensure it never, never happens again.

They provide national and regional security, serve on search and rescue missions and respond to national disasters.

Speaker, I cannot let Remembrance Day go by without special recognition and note that it has a special meaning for myself and my family. As I have mentioned before, I am a proud mother to an active service member, Jonathan Lindal. Jonathan is a petty officer first class, currently posted to the Naval Fleet School, Atlantic, as a senior combat information instructor, teaching today’s naval tactics and doctrines to future of the fleet. Jonathan has served over 18 years on His Majesty’s Canadian ships for multiple overseas deployments including missions combatting global terror, anti-piracy, sovereignty patrols and Operation Reassurance support for NATO’s assurance and deterrence measures in central and eastern Europe.

Both his grandfather—my father—and his great-grandfather served our country, as many of us today have family members that we will remember, thank and honour on November 11. We can never repay the debt we owe, nor will we ever have enough gratitude for the freedom and security we enjoy every day across all of our communities. We must do our part to ensure that the sacrifices of our country’s men and women, who fought for and in many cases gave up their life for our right to sit as democratically elected members of this assembly, are not forgotten.

As the proud member of a military family, both past and present, I will watch the national ceremony, locate and attend local ceremonies leading up to the events of November 11—just last week, I attended my local Legion’s poppy kickoff ceremony—lay a wreath at local cenotaphs, proudly wear my poppy, thank and honour anyone in uniform and observe two minutes of silence.

I encourage all of us to do the same because our Canadian Armed Forces and our veterans want Canadians to understand the price of freedom. They are passing the torch to the people of Canada so that the memory and the importance of sacrifices will continue and the values they fought for will continue to live on in all of us.

Our veterans, our country’s men and women of our Canadian services, be it land, air or sea, answered the call to defend freedom. We will forever be grateful. We will remember them. Lest we forget.