6 hours Ago By Kevin Vuong
Article content Dear Mr. Hobbs, Recommended Videos It was shameful to learn that you think Remembrance Day is about “a white guy who has done something related to the military.” I am confident that I speak for many when I ask how you are entrusted with educating children on the meaning of Remembrance Day when it is something foreign to your own understanding; never mind that you occupy a leadership role as a school administrator guiding teachers trusted with informing students on why Canada remembers its war dead.
However, in the parlance of your profession, let’s approach this as a teachable moment. This is an opportunity for you to learn about Canadian heroes like Sgt. Thomas “Tommy” George Prince, the most decorated First Nations soldier in the history of Canada.
Prince served in the Second World War as well as the Korean War. During the Second World War, his heroism on the elite Canadian-American commando unit, the First Special Service Force, also known as the Devil’s Brigade, earned him the distinction as one of only three Canadians awarded the Canadian Military Medal and the American Silver Star. Your uninformed comments were not only an insult to Sgt.
Prince’s extraordinary service but also to many Indigenous Canadian soldiers who fought for Canada. You are likely equally unaware of the heroics of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, the largest Black unit in Canadian history and whose legacy of fighting for King and Country began over 200 years ago.
When you dismiss Remembrance Day as about a “white guy,” you are erasing the legacy of those who overcame real discrimination to serve because they believed so much in our country and what it stood for that they were willing to put on its uniform. When you dismiss November 11th, you denigrate the memory and legacy of the No. 2 Construction Battalion and Black Canadians who fought for Canada.
You are also most likely unfamiliar with the heroism of the 150 Canadians of Chinese heritage who served in Force 136 of the British Special Operations Executive. During the Second World War, just like now as Canada confronts foreign interference from the People’s Republic of China, the loyalty of Chinese Canadian men to Canada was questioned. Back then, these men were sidelined or outright turned away when they volunteered to serve.
They were treated as second-class citizens and, at the time, didn’t even have the right to vote — but still, their loyalty to Canada was unwavering. To demonstrate their loyalty, the men of Force 136 volunteered for dangerous clandestine missions and were parachuted into enemy territory, often alone, to do whatever they could to disrupt enemy supply lines and support local resistance. Your comments are an insult to the brave men of Force 136 and other Asian Canadians who signed a blank cheque for an amount up to and including their lives for a country that had not even granted them the right to cast a ballot — that’s how much they believed in Canada.
I could go on and list endless “white” Canadians as well. Heroes like the namesake of Toronto Island Airport, First World War ace Air Marshal William “Billy” Avery Bishop, or fellow Second World War ace William George Barker, the most decorated serviceman in Canadian history. Both served in what would become the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), which I am intentionally highlighting because you are likely unaware that 2024 marks the centennial of the RCAF.
Therefore, Remembrance Day is about honouring Canada’s fallen — those who paid the ultimate price to defend our nation in its darkest days and to enable it to bring forward the freedoms we all enjoy today. One of those freedoms permits you, principal Hobbs, to say things that would have seen you shot, or carted away to some camp, had our Second World War enemy won. Surely, you can see the irony.
Those who falsely proclaim that remembrance is nothing but the glorification of war are equally misguided. They severely miss the point that November 11th is a reminder of the terrible cost of war and the duty we all have to do everything we can in pursuit of peace. Principal Hobbs, they say those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
I hope this open letter reminds you of a lesson that you have forgotten in some attempt to educate — or is that indoctrinate — us as to the grievous error of our remembrance ways. That lesson being that freedom is not free. Canada’s soldiers of all backgrounds and faiths paid the ultimate price for it and we have a solemn duty to both remember and honour them.
Lest We (indeed) Forget. Kevin Vuong is an independent Member of Parliament for Spadina-Fort York. The son of refugees, he is the youngest MP of Asian heritage elected to the 44th Parliament.
He also serves as a naval reserve officer in the Canadian Armed Forces..
