Re: "Canadians resistant to warriornation idea," Sept. 5.
We would beg to differ. The writer is obviously ill-informed in regard to our history.
Fifty-five thousand Canadians volunteered to serve on both sides during the U.S. Civil War. Twelve thousand died in a cause they believed was right. In the Fenian invasion of 1866, the young militia men in Ontario went toe to toe with hardened veterans who were the Fenian Army. During the Boer War, Canadians volunteered for service in South Africa.
We are old enough to have known our fathers and grandfathers and their peers who served as volunteers in the First World War and the Second World War.
Veterans who are now gone we knew well. They gave of themselves, their hearing, gunshot wounds to various body parts. They suffered dysentry and we never heard them complain. They were volunteer warriors.
The community we live in has a few Second World War veterans who are still with us. On Remembrance Day in our tiny community, 300 men, women and children assemble to pay homage to warriors of the past.
We respectfully submit that Canada is a warrior nation.
Gary and Sybil Kangas
Metchosin
