Well said Ben. When called to serve our Canadians step up and make the sacrifice with honour and dignity. As a child of the sixties, I was given a world that was much safer and kinder for the sacrifices of those men and women and will show my appreciation for their service. I have also tried to give my son the education I was given so that he knows just what Remeberance Day is all about. God Bless our Vets and those serving now.

Thank you Ben, we must all remember and honor those who gave their lives for our freedom today. My grandfather returned from war and I will never forget that he went there for us.
Today, our young are not drafted or forced into the army, they join of their own free will. Therefore, it is important to support their decision to be there and to also be thankful for them being there because if they were not there willingly perhaps there would be others forced to go in their place.
What our soldiers do in the name of our country cannot be repaid, ever. The strength in the hearts of the mothers and fathers of all our soldiers must be unbelievable, how proud they must be, and how frightened.

My great grandpa Sam Law drove a tank in WWI that helped end the war. He went back for WW2 and lived until the late 80's. I once spent a week with him on his farm before he died and heard of some horrific stories.

No matter our thoughts on the politics I think all Canadians appreciate the sacrifices our soldiers have made.

For me even with politics I am proud because we are the only country in the world that can lay claim to having never initiated a war of conquest, never occupied a foreign country, and never lost a single war. Not by coincidence either. Our soldiers have a history of being heroes that save the world in its time of need. The foundation of our success ironically has been the internal conflict at home in matters of war exemplified by the French-English split on the subject that helped to built the character of our nation from one of an imperial loyalist to one of a free standing independent democracy that conferred these rights on the world through our victories and moral power as a result. This is cemented in the ideals of a United Nations and NATO itself.

It took Britain hanging by a thread and their great need for Canada to save them and end colonialism. Canadians have rejected nationalism due to our bi-cultural nature, and contentalism was never an option. Vimy Ridge and the Imperial War Conference was our Canadian war of independence ending British Imperialism and replacing it with the Commonwealth after we defeated the Germans under Canadian leadership where the British and French failed. The Imperial war conference declared due to Canadian insistence that all dominions of Britain “ should be based upon a full recognition of the dominions as autonomous nations of an Imperial Commonwealth.” Thus setting the precedent for a world free of colonialism.

The Canadian identity was further defined after our oversized victories in WW1 with the Belfour declaration at the Imperial Conference of 1926 in which recognition of the dominions was summarized as, “autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate to one another in any respect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.”

Some of Canada's often forgotten sacrifices include Ypres where Canada was the first country to be the victim of a WMD used in war when the Germans gases the Canadian forces with mustard gas and lost the battle because a young private convinced his peers to pee on their socks and hold to face to protect their lungs.

Another big forgotten moment was in Korea where Canadian forces alone held what is today’s armistice line preventing the Chinese from overrunning the American army holding the strategic hills behind Chinese lines with single shot rifles and no armour for nearly 2 weeks.

We didn't go to Vietnam, and we didn't participate in pre-emptive war in Iraq. When we fight we win, because we fight for the Canadian values that we as a nation can agree on dispite all our differences. That is our greatest weapon and our Canadian forces are the best there is in that kind of a war. I hope Harper does not get the chance the change that.

In my opinion.

Tomorrow I shall be at the Cenotaph and wear my red poppy proudly.
My Father was in the First World War and my brother was in the Second World War.
I also look forward to a day when I can wear a white poppy and that the world will find another way to solve problems rather than killing one another.

My father and my uncles were in the Second World War. Drafted. They had no choice.

Lao Tse said, more than 2000 years ago:

"Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the greatest restraint.
Peace is the highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be contend?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He does not wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters battle gravely;
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral."

True then, still true today.

Next year I will wear a white poppy.

Nice poam, but forget the white poppy thing. It is run by a communist group out of Britain that is using their profits to push a political agenda. They are playing on your human spirit to oppose violence to undermine those brave soilders who in the past secured our peace. A white poppy is in effect an endorsement against your country and the soilders that secured your peace in favour of those who will manipulate your emotions to further their own political agenda.

I find the white poppies disgracefull and in complete distaste as they spit on the grave of our forefathers. If you really want to wear a white poppy, wear it on a peace day, not a day where we remember our forefathers who died fighting to preserve our peace.

First or all, it is not a poam (sic).

It is from the writings of a great Chinese philosopher with whom you are obviously unfamiliar.

Secondly, you are wrong about white poppies being a communist plot.

Thirdly, YOU are NOT going to tell me WHEN I can wear a white poppy or any other emblem I choose to wear!

These are the personal freedoms that are enshrined within our democracy and your opinion that someone wants to spit on the grave of anyone is way over the top, in my opinion.

On the white poppy it says: PEACE.

Obviously, not something you seem to be in favour of.

Too bad.

I am in favour of peace. Re-read my post, I ment every word of it. I did not tell you to do anything, but rather expressed my opinion at your thoughts on white poppies. You are the one that is over the top.

Where does the money for your white poppy go? Do you not feel that profiteers from white poppies on Rememberance Day is distastfull when they go out and compete with the red poppies sold to benefit our veterans. I don't care if they write JESUS on the white poppies, it is wrong and they can find their own day to market their products for their cause.

I think of it as an insult that you cite the freedoms and democracy that those veterans fought for in your right to spit on their graves.

I will however appoligize before hand for talking with lots of spray when I see you next Rememberance Day wearing your white poppy. Better bring your hankie with you...lol.