Although this year marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the pandemic lessened the National Memorial Day ceremony in Ottawa. Instead of thousands of people filling the streets around Confederation Square, a few hundred people came and stood or sat socially distant around the National War Memorial.
As always, World War I was just around the corner and provided most of the symbolism of the ceremony, particularly the poppies on people’s lapels and, this year, on masks. The National War Memorial, where the ceremony takes place every year, is definitely a memorial to that earlier war.
Given that more than a million Canadians and Newfoundlanders served in the military during World War II and more than 44,000 died – at a time when Canada was only 12 million people – World War I continued to dominate the way the country is run reminiscent of his war dead is striking. Tim Cook, historian at the Canadian War Museum and author of eight books on Canada at war, has made the nation’s memory of World War II the theme of his latest book, The Battle for History.
By and large, Dr. Cook: Despite its toll and critical role in transforming Canadian society and economy, World War II quickly faded from Canada’s collective memory. Then, until recently, when it rose in the nation’s consciousness, attention turned more to defeat like the capture of Canadians defending Hong Kong or disgrace like the internment of Japanese Canadians.
Dr. Cook told me this week that World War I continued to dominate for several reasons, most notably the mythology surrounding the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
“Many Canadians speak of Vimy as the birth of the nation, although I have argued in my book on Vimy that this is not true,” said Dr. Cook, who, like many other historians, has said that the battle important was just one of many significant events in a war that was transformative for Canada.
The First World War undoubtedly had devastating effects on Canada, and in response, war memorials soon rose across the country to commemorate the dead. The end of that war also coincided with the Spanish flu epidemic, an event that is all too well received today.
The end of the Second World War, however, ushered in a lively period in Canadian history. Instead of mourning, many Canadians wanted to move on.
“We treated our veterans well when they came home in 1945,” Dr. Cook. “Really forward-looking laws and programs have helped veterans reintegrate.”
That suited the national mood.
“A modern Canada emerges from the Second War,” said Dr. Cook. “We look forward to a successful 20th century. A victim of this prosperity reflects the service and sacrifice made during the war. “
With relatively little effort, veterans accepted that WWI memorial symbols, such as the poppy, would also be used for those who died in WWII.
However, instead of building more monuments, Canadian governments opted for so-called living monuments: town houses or institutions dedicated to remembering the dead. Until I see Dr. However, after reading Cook’s new book, I did not know that the Royal Canadian Legion and other groups opposed this approach and, among other things, demanded a National Memorial for World War II in Ottawa near the National Gallery of Canada now stands.
“The Legion and other groups said these monuments are fine and good, but not sacred spaces. They are not in the memorial, on the tennis court or in the hockey arena and testify to the fallen, ”said Dr. Cook. “History confirms the Legion. Within 20, 30, 40 years most of these monuments were torn down or we just lost the sense of what the memorial was supposed to remind us of. “
It was not until 1982 for World War II dates to be placed on the National War Memorial, and unlike World War I, memorials to World War II Canadians were not erected on the battlefields overseas.
The 1980s was a time, said Dr. Cook when, after decades of fading, World War II reshaped national consciousness. But not solemn.
During that decade, former Merchant Navy members battled successfully for veteran recognition, and Hong Kong veterans battled for decent pensions, recognition of their suffering, and an official apology from Japan. The terrible history of the Japanese-Canadians eventually found widespread recognition.
In the early 1990s, the National Film Board of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation produced a major series about war, “The Valor and the Horror.” However, the series has received much criticism for blurring the lines between story and drama. Dr. Cook said his approach shocked veterans.
“What made the veterans so angry was that after decades of feeling ignored, they returned to defeat and shame when the National Film Board and the CBC finally returned to war,” he said.
Dr. Cook admitted that many WWII veterans just wanted to leave it and its stories behind. My father, Ronald B. Austen Jr., was certainly among them. When I was a boy, we assembled and painted plastic models of the Royal Canadian Air Force bombers that he flew as a navigator and fell into them. But he spoke very little of the period other than complaining of an excess of Brussels sprouts in his diet while he was stationed in England.
But my father went to Ottawa for the 50th anniversary in 1995, a year before he died. Dr. Cook said the large number of veterans returning to Europe this year, particularly the Netherlands, where Canada’s role as liberator still plays a big role, has balanced Canada’s view of the war.
“I think we are doing a better job now, although unfortunately we are losing most of our veterans,” he said.
A victory for migrant workers
Catherine Porter, my colleague in Toronto, has a follow up:
This week saw a rare case where a migrant worker hired and won his employer at a provincial labor agency.
We told you about Luis Gabriel Flores Flores last month – he is a Mexican migrant worker who was flown to Canada in April to help secure the country’s food supplies during the pandemic. Almost 40 percent of the fruit and vegetable farm workers in Canada are agricultural workers with a migrant background.
He visited a huge fruit and vegetable farm, Scotlynn Sweetpac Growers, near Simcoe, Ontario. A month later, around 200 Mexican workers came together with Covid-19 in Scotlynn, including Mr. Flores. One of his collaborators, Juan Lopez Chaparro, died of the disease.
This week the Ontario Labor Relations Board ruled that Mr. Flores had been wrongly dismissed for speaking out against conditions on the farm. It awarded Mr. Flores $ 25,000 Canadian dollars – including $ 5,000 Canadian dollars for pain and suffering.
“There is finally a case showing what happens to migrant workers,” said John No, Mr. Flores’ attorney.
Ian Austen is from Windsor, Ontario. He was trained in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has been reporting on Canada for the New York Times for 16 years. Follow him on Twitter @ianrausten.
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