Juno News - June 24, 2019


War memorials don't glorify war


Episode Stats

Length

3 minutes

Words per Minute

165.83961

Word Count

557

Sentence Count

22

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary

A New Brunswick town has caved to the radical voices who think celebrating and commemorating those who have fought for their country equates to jingoism and militarism, and the glorification of war. This isn t a discussion about the Victoria Councillor who made a similar push a couple of weeks ago, although that was another example of this pervasive mentality that seems to be sweeping the country. No, this is a new case where the Sackville, New Brunswick mayor has decided to put on hold the installation of a donated armoured vehicle into a park.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 A New Brunswick town has caved to the radical voices who think celebrating and commemorating
00:00:08.380 those who have fought for their country equates to jingoism and militarism and the glorification
00:00:14.640 of war.
00:00:15.660 This isn't a discussion about the Victoria Councilor who made a similar push a couple
00:00:20.820 of weeks ago, although that was another example of this pervasive mentality that seems to
00:00:25.560 be sweeping the country.
00:00:26.980 No, this is a new case.
00:00:28.120 The Sackville, New Brunswick mayor has decided to put on hold the installation of a donated
00:00:34.180 armoured vehicle into a park.
00:00:36.200 This goes back to February when the 8th Canadian Hussars donated a retired armoured military
00:00:41.780 vehicle to Sackville.
00:00:43.840 The Cougar was to be displayed at Memorial Park, a monument to serve as a tribute to fallen members
00:00:50.780 of the 8th Canadian Hussars who came from that part of the country and specifically that town.
00:00:56.780 And since February, no one really put up too much of a fuss until a bunch of NIMBY types
00:01:02.200 started seeing a concrete pad being installed in the park and decided to raise a fuss.
00:01:07.800 And people made any number of asinine claims.
00:01:10.500 Look at this CBC story, for example, calling it a controversial armoured vehicle.
00:01:15.020 Well, just because people have decided to make themselves into fools opposing it doesn't
00:01:18.780 mean the vehicle itself is actually a source of controversy.
00:01:21.960 It's a source of honour and commemoration.
00:01:25.460 But again, residents were saying, no, no, no, we agree that veterans should be commemorated,
00:01:29.940 but not in that way.
00:01:32.280 Jessica Grew said, I don't feel that it's the best way for a memorial park to commemorate
00:01:37.280 veterans and those affected by war.
00:01:40.800 Alex Thomas said in a Global article, it's important to recognise the regiment's long connection
00:01:46.040 with the town and the 55 members who died fighting fascism in Italy, but the Cougar is a modern
00:01:52.180 vehicle that represents military violence.
00:01:55.900 Anyone who thinks that it represents military violence should actually take a little bit
00:01:59.660 of time and speak to a veteran about this.
00:02:02.740 Jim Lockyer, who's the honorary colonel of the 8th Canadian Hussars, says the vehicle is
00:02:07.460 about serving as a monument to the tragedy of war, which is the precise opposite of glorifying
00:02:13.500 war.
00:02:13.780 You know, I mentioned in my video about that Victoria councillor that the freedom to be
00:02:19.540 an idiot actually comes from the men and women who have fought in uniform, the people
00:02:24.300 who laid down their lives for their country.
00:02:27.020 But there's also a necessity to push back here.
00:02:29.420 When we stop with these symbols and icons and monuments, you actually lose one of the
00:02:34.720 greatest tools that gets people to start asking questions about these things.
00:02:38.720 I live in a city where one of the most legendary tanks in Canadian history is on display.
00:02:44.480 And as a young man, that was a tank that I would see and otherwise not know about, and it was actually something that gave me a connection to a tremendously significant
00:03:02.240 part of my country's history, and in particular my city's history, anyone who wants to take
00:03:08.000 that away is not denying the glorification of war, they're actually denying the ability
00:03:13.760 to honour and commemorate and understand the history that has allowed us to be the beacon
00:03:18.520 of freedom that we are.
00:03:19.520 For True North, I'm Andrew Lutton.