Speech
From the Prime Minister's Web Site (http://www.pm.gc.ca/)
PRIME MINISTER HARPER MARKS FLAG DAY BY ANNOUNCING FUNDING FOR JUNO BEACH CENTRE
February 15, 2007
Ottawa, Ontario
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Good morning ladies and gentlemen, students, and veterans, and thank you Royal Galipeau for your kind introduction.
It's such a pleasure for me to be here in Gloucester, at Lester B. Pearson Secondary School.
Our mission today is twofold.
As that great presentation and performance by the students shows, we're here to celebrate National Flag of Canada Day.
On this day, February 15, in 1965, the red maple leaf was raised for the very first time. I remember watching it myself, as a student in kindergarten.
That day marked an end as well as a beginning.
It meant the end of the flag that had symbolized our young dominion.
The "red ensign," as it was called, combined the maple leaf with several other symbols including the Union Jack, the flag of our country's British co-founders.
As Canada approached its centennial, many felt it was time for a new flag, a flag to usher in our second century as a fully independent nation and so the red maple leaf was born.
It is fitting that we mark the 42nd anniversary of our new flag by bringing together veterans and young people, because a flag is more than just a symbol of our country.
It's true the flag announces who we are to people from elsewhere.
It greets them when they set foot on Canadian soil.
It proudly adorns our public buildings, many businesses and many of our homes, and it flies everywhere the Canadian forces are stationed, from Alert in the highest arctic to the dusty plains of Afghanistan.
But a flag, whatever its design, is also a portal, a door that leads and connects us back to our history and our values, and that is why it is so appropriate to have the veterans with us here today, and why it's so appropriate on Flag Day to make an important announcement related to a seminal event in Canadian history.
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, a massive allied force landed on the beaches of Normandy, France and began the invasion of fortress Europe that would reclaim the continent from the tyranny of fascism.
That day, 15,000 members of the Canadian army, hundreds of members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the crews of 60 vessels of the Royal Canadian navy participated in the landings.
The third Canadian infantry and second Canadian armoured brigade division landed at a wide stretch of sand code-named Juno beach.
The Canadian troops represented regiments from right across the country:
On that historic day, none of the Normandy beaches were more heavily defended than Juno.
It was a killing field of mines, artillery and machine gun fire, but the Canadians dashed across the sand and overwhelmed the enemy.
Then they fought their way deep into France deeper than any of the other allied divisions.
It was a stunning military success, one that made Canadians as proud as they had been of the tremendous victory at Vimy ridge 27 years before.
The Canadians who took Juno beach, and all those who fought in the Second World War, deepened our worldwide reputation as a country that produces highly-skilled and courageous military personnel.
A country that stood up when the cause was just and a country that still stands up for the just cause today.
A country that believes deeply in freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law for ourselves and for all peoples.
Some of those great Canadians of the Second World War are with us today.
I am humbled and honoured to be in their presence, and I am very pleased to announce that Canada's New Government will support their request for funding to maintain and operate the Juno Beach Centre in France.
Please, direct your applause to the people who really deserve it: the driving force behind the creation of the centre: the members of the Juno Beach Centre Association.
Public and private sector partners have generously supported the project and, especially, let me acknowledge the role of D-Day veteran and President of the Juno Beach Centre Association, Lieutenant Garth Webb.
First opened in 2003, the Centre houses a museum that provides a lasting tribute to all the contributions Canadians made to the liberation of Europe.
Including the Canadians who landed at Normandy, including the 1,074 who were killed or wounded that day.
The Juno Beach Centre immortalizes their sacrifices, and there is no better time to recognize that sacrifice than today, when brave Canadian men and women carry on the very same task under dangerous conditions, in a far-away land once again.
Lest we forget.
Thank you.
The Prime Minister's Office - Communications
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posted by a Confidential Source @ 2/16/2007
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