Education and the importance of families in Canada’s armed forces

“It’s important for the youth to understand that when you see veterans – what are you looking at and what contributions from their perspective have these people made for their freedom?”

Miller said it’s not just the job of retired armed forces members, but also the general public to share their own knowledge on the contributions that veterans have made to society.

“It’s important for the youth to be educated as early as possible because at the end of the day, when a young child receives something, they say two simple words – ‘thank you’, so now it’s our job as a society to teach them and say thank you for the freedom we enjoy today and that’s a lifelong lesson because eventually, they’re going to have to teach their own children.”

He noted that there are many sources available for anyone to learn about Canada’s military past. Miller added that even some family members of veterans may not know a lot about their own relative who served.

“It’s important for the family members, if they don’t know about Grandpa John or Grandma Jeannette’s services, as those veterans have passed on, all the World War One files have been digitized in the Library and Archives Canada. So, they can actually research that and get the facts because those facts are often not well known by the family members.”

FAMILY MEMBERS & THEIR IMPORTANT ROLES

Miller remarked that families play an important role in the Canadian armed forces, noting it’s not just the military member who serves, but their family does as well.

“Families play a key role in the support of a military member standing on guard for thee because when they go away to train for six months prior to a six-month deployment, basically they are away from their family for a year,” he said.

“It’s hard for the family to carry out without a member of the family and in some cases, there’s two family members, parents, that are both military, so that’s another challenge.”

Miller believes it’s important for youth to know they are valued just as much as a military member.

“A person who deploys can’t do their job if they know their family is NOT being looked after so that’s why it’s a whole military package of the member and the family that serves.”

POSTER AND LITERARY CONTEST & POSTCARDS FOR PEACE

A creative way for youth to get involved in Veterans’ Week and Remembrance Day is through the Royal Canadian Legion Poster and Literary Contests.

In partnership with schools across the country and the Legion National Foundation, students in grades one through 12 are invited to submit a poster design or works of literature, such as a poem, with a focus on remembrance.

Ben Scholten of Picture Butte, second place finisher in the colour poster junior category, with Lethbridge Legion president Michael Cormican (Photo provided by Glenn Miller)

From the local level, winning entries move forward to the Legion’s provincial level contests. Finalists then move on to the Legion National Foundation in Ottawa to be judged at a federal level.

Students from Coaldale Christian School, winner in the 2019 Legion Poster & Literary Contest with Lethbridge Legion president Michael Cormican (Photo provided by Glenn Miller)

More information on this can be found here.

Another way all members of the community can get involved is through the Postcards for Peace initiative.

“Every year at Christmas time we send out little comforts to our veterans that are in long-term care and we’re asking that if you don’t enter in the Literary and Poster contest, we encourage you to simply make a very simple thank you card that we can deliver to those veterans,” Miller said.

Last week, three students from Catholic Central High School in Lethbridge delivered thank you cards to the local legion.

More details on Postcards for Peace are available through the Veterans Affairs Canada website here.

by Justin Goulet

Education and the importance of families in Canada’s armed forces

What's Happening