I was both disturbed and enlightened by Tuesday’s Remembrance Day ceremony at the Parliament Buildings. The ceremony itself was well done, and I found it heartwarming that thousands of people turned out for it.
But I was troubled by the heavy police presence and, more to the point, the paramilitary gear many of them were wearing. In particular, strapped to their chests were large guns that looked like a cross between a machine gun and a bazooka. This was the Victoria Police Department, dressed up like a SWAT team on Remembrance Day.
As I was digesting this, another strange thing happened. A man with a large peace sign that read “No War With Iran” walked through the crowd. He didn’t say anything or hassle anyone, but four police officers tracked him and escorted him off the legislature lawn. I noticed he went across the street to a small peace rally. I walked over to check it out. There were about 30 people taking turns at the microphone exchanging their views on war and peace.
The guy with the sign got up to the microphone and said he felt sorry for the veterans. He felt they got caught up in wars that were started by the wealthy and powerful, who for their own personal gain were motivated to pit one country against another. The result is death and destruction every time.
I agree with that view, and personally I would have liked to have heard more comments of that nature at the larger event across the street. But Remembrance Day seems to be about armistice, not peace. It’s about the end of the First World War and the Second World War, not the end of warfare itself.
If we as Canadians refrained from dropping bombs on other countries (such as Afghanistan recently, and Iraq currently) in a vain attempt to solve deep-rooted problems we don’t understand, if we took better care of our marginalized and mentally ill citizens to help reduce violence, if we made education a top priority so that the next generation could avoid repeating the darker aspects of our history, if we developed energy policies that served our needs while maintaining a just geopolitical balance, then it seems to me the Victoria police could return their SWAT gear and get back to defending, rather than curtailing, free speech.
And maybe one day we will have Remembrance Day ceremonies that truly are about remembering war as a thing of the past.
Brad Nelson is a Victoria resident.
