The future of remembrance in Canada

The Commemoration Strategic Plan guides how we honour those who served in uniform and ensures their legacy is preserved for future generations.

The input received from the Veteran community and Canadians has informed how we recognize and commemorate Veterans moving forward.

Public consultation

In 2021, we consulted Canadians on the future of remembrance in Canada. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on how to best recognize and remember those who have served Canada in uniform. We also thank the Veterans organizations and other stakeholders who shared their perspectives on the draft 10-year strategic plan.

Read the consultation reports:

Canada remembers CAF service around the world

Learn more about our new approach to remembrance by viewing this video:

Transcript: Canada remembers CAF around the world

During the first half of the 20th century, more than 1.7 million Canadians served to defend peace and freedom around the world.

For decades, Veterans Affairs Canada has marked key milestones of the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War, with ceremonies and events at home and abroad.

We will continue to tell the stories of the millions of brave Canadians from all walks of life and diverse backgrounds who served during these conflicts.

Hundreds of thousands of Canadians have served since the end of the Korean War. However, their stories remain relatively untold.

Whether in peace support, combat or humanitarian roles…in Canada or around the world…these Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces have served and sacrificed, with courage and honour.

They deserve our recognition and thanks.

To share the story of those who served in Canada's military efforts around the world, since the end of the Korean War in the 1950, we will expand beyond traditional anniversaries and begin to mark the more recent military, peacekeeping, and humanitarian missions.

We will help Canadians learn about these missions, and the important contributions our service members have made to peace and safety—at home and abroad. They continue a long tradition of courage, service and sacrifice.

We will highlight the diversity of Canada's military experience.

We want those who served this country to see themselves in the stories we share…and to recognize they are Canada's Veterans.

We propose to focus on a different theme or region each year. And we will show the common threads between those in uniform–no matter where or when they served.

With "Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces missions around the world" as our guide, Veterans Affairs Canada will base our efforts in three areas:

Engagement

We will ask former and current CAF members how their service, sacrifice and achievements should be recognized. We will seek stakeholder and community input on ways to inspire Canadians to recognize and appreciate those who served. And we will work with partners to incorporate this feedback into our plans and programs.

Resources

We will continue to care for our commemorative spaces and resources, in Canada and around the world.

Creativity

We will pioneer innovative and exciting new experiences for Canadians in everything we do. This will transform how we work and engage Canadians in communities across the country, to how we care for our memorials and other resources.

Together, we will tell the story of those who served Canada for our freedom—today, tomorrow and always.

 

Canada Remembers: The virtual panel series

Listen. Learn. Discuss. The virtual panel series allows you to learn more about commemoration, Canada’s military history, and the experiences of our Veterans.

 

Panel 1

9 November 2020

Virtual panel on the future of commemoration in Canada

Watch Canadian War Museum historians Dr. Tim Cook, Dr. Mélanie Morin-Pelletier and Dr. Andrew Burtch discuss how our country’s past military efforts have been honoured over the years, and what commemoration and remembrance could look like in the future.

 

Panel 2

19 March 2021

How should Canada commemorate our post-Korean War military efforts?

Watch as Lieutenant-General (Ret’d) Lloyd Campbell, Lieutenant-Colonel (Ret’d) Chris Hutt and Sergeant (Ret’d) Geneviève Gauthier share their personal insights on how best to commemorate and recognize the contributions of all who served.

 

Panel 3

29 April 2021

Remembrance in a digital age

As digital and virtual initiatives become increasingly part of our daily lives, the way we remember must evolve as well.

Watch as Captain Kirk Sullivan, Carolyn Patton, and Caroline Dromaguet explore the current landscape of digital remembrance – and provide a glimpse of what’s to come.

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