34th annual Peacekeepers Memorial Ceremony to take place in Esquimalt

This August, Victoria and Esquimalt will remember those who have fallen in the line of service.

The Peacekeepers Memorial Parade will take place on Sunday, August 9th at 7 p.m. in Esquimalt Memorial Park.

This is the parade’s 34th annual iteration, in which veterans, Canadian Armed Forces personnel, police and civilians who served in peace support operations are remembered.

The parade and ceremony will honour the 125,000 Canadian Armed Forces members who have served in international peacekeeping missions in dozens of countries since 1948.

Approximately 125 of those men and women lost their lives during these missions, and hundreds of others continue to suffer today as a result of their service.

According to a release from the BC Veterans Remembrance Association, more than 5,000 RCMP officers and municipal police forces from across the country have also taken part in UN missions, and thousands of diplomats and civilians have made contributions as well.

The date of the event, August 9th, marks the largest single day loss of lives during peace operations, as nine Canadian Forces members were shot out of the sky in a Buffalo Aircraft in Syria in 1974.

At the time, Syrian forces claimed they believed the blue and white Buffalo Aircraft to be an Israeli fighter jet.

In 1993, the BC government was the first to declare a Memorial Day to honour those who died during service. This eventually became a National Day of Remembrance in 2008.

Here in Victoria, the commemoration is organized by the BC Veterans Remembrance Association, with the assistance of Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt.

At the event, Captain Douglas Layton, Commander at the Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt and other dignitaries will read the names of Canadians who died during service. A moment of silence will follow the naming, after which the dignitaries will place a poppy in a wreath at the cenotaph.

Veterans of the Canadian Forces, RCMP, municipal police services and civilians who have served in peace operations are encouraged to participate in the event. Those that have the blue and orange berets that are indicative of their service are also encouraged to wear them.

“We are not only remembering those who have died in operations,” said retired Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Paone in a statement.

“We also remember those whose experiences are complicit in their subsequent death or whose service was cut short regardless of the cause, no matter their mission at home or abroad.”

The War Memorials at the BC legislature and at Esquimalt Memorial Park commemorate those who fell while defending Canada in two World Wards, the Korean War, in the service of peace and in Canada’s military support to Afghanistan.