Youth Led Remembrance in Yarmouth

Throughout the Portraits of Honour National Tour we have often remarked about the importance of engaging our young people in remembrance and teaching them about the role of our Canadian Forces and the impact they have throughout the world.

In Yarmouth, Nova Scotia however, it seems that the youth of the community already have this lesson firmly in hand, with dozens of local students being members of the Maple Grove/Yarmouth High School Memorial Club.

The memorial club participated in the Portraits of Honour tour stop in the community, lining the route to the display location holding flags for all of the 157 fallen heroes, as well as additional flags representing the province, and some representing other areas where Canada has had a peacekeeping role.

This memorial club has also worked for years to erect a memorial to all of Canada’s Fallen heroes, with a special memorial wall for those killed in Afghanistan. A student led project, this memorial brings great pride to the community and much honour to the families of the fallen.

One of the quotes etched on the memorial, a comment from hero Martin Luther King JR., reads as follows:

“People who passively accept evil are as much involved with it as they who help perpetuate it. People who accept evil without protesting against it are really cooperating with it”

There is not a more appropriate or concise statement that can express why our troops courageously volunteered to serve in Afghanistan. Many have argued that it is not our war to fight, yet the brave young men and women who went overseas were unwilling to passively accept the evil being brought upon the people of Afghanistan. 

And like these brave heroes, the youth of Yarmouth, and those who have taught them, mentored them and guided them, are unwilling to passively accept that these heroes could be forgotten. With their memorial standing solidly in granite, and their support of initiatives like the Portraits of Honour, these remarkable young Canadians are doing their part to show that those who give all for what is right will forever live in honour in our hearts and minds.