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August 8th, 2018

NDP Statement on the Centennial of the Battle of Amiens and Canada's Hundred Days

NDP Veterans Affairs Critic, Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni), is a member of the official Canadian delegation to France to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Amiens from August 6-10, 2018, joining international delegations from Australia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States, and France.

Johns made the following statement in commemoration of Canada’s Hundred Days and the Armistice that ended the First World War:

“Today we remember the brave Canadians who fought their way forward through Amiens, France and into Belgium, one hundred years ago today, in the closing months of the First World War to help end the bitter conflict. This final offensive, which has come to be called “Canada’s Hundred Days”, lasted from August 8 to November 11, 1918.

Canada experienced heavy losses in this final push to peace. Nearly 40,000 Canadian soldiers were wounded, and more than 6,800 sacrificed their lives. For their courage in defending our freedoms during Canada’s Hundred Days, thirty brave Canadians and Newfoundlanders received the Victoria Cross.
We will remember them.

And in this commemoration, New Democrats renew our commitment to ensuring that veterans, as well as their dependents and survivors, are shown the respect, dignity and fairness that they deserve.

The Government of Canada has a duty to live up to its sacred obligation to provide for those who put themselves in harm’s way defending our nation’s freedom. We must work harder to eradicate homelessness among veterans, to provide fair compensation to wounded veterans, and to deliver the necessary health services to veterans and their caregivers for recovery from visible and invisible injuries.

Lest we forget.”