We remember on Nov. 11 by lowering the flag

No matter how much needs to change in Canada, some things should remain constant.

One of them happens on the 11th day of every November: Remembrance Day. It is the one day out of every 365 that Canadians collectively stop to think of all those who served, fought, suffered and, in numbers barely fathomable, died to defend this land. We do this with the same time-honoured words, rituals and ceremonies.

Millions of us wear a scarlet poppy. Crowds assemble at community cenotaphs where wreathes are laid, speeches delivered and a hush descends over it all as a bugler sounds the mournful “Last Post.” And on flagpoles across the country, but perhaps most notably at every federal government building, the Maple Leaf will be lowered to half-mast.

All of these traditions are important. But this year that last action, the lowering of the flag by the Canadian government, was for a time in jeopardy.

In May, after hundreds of unmarked graves had been discovered on or near the grounds of former Indigenous residential schools, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered flags to be lowered to half-mast at every federal building. It was the right decision and an appropriately sensitive one that expressed the shock and grief being felt across Canada.

At the same time, it was also an unprecedented act. The national flag had never been lowered for months at a time for any reason. Standard protocols had been abandoned. And no one, not even the prime minister, knew when the flag would be raised again. Or how it would happen.

Such questions increasingly became topics of discussion and even concern as this year’s Remembrance Day approached. In all, more than 115,000 people wearing a Canadian military uniform made the ultimate sacrifice in two world wars, Korea, in United Nations peacekeeping forces and most recently in Afghanistan. Thousands of others were injured in body or mind. Hundreds of thousands of others risked these dangers by serving.

Lowering the nation’s flag to honour and remember them every Nov. 11 is the least we can do. And so it was fortunate that the prime minister found a way that respected everyone, including Indigenous peoples, and made this happen. Talks took place between federal officials and Indigenous groups, resulting in a mutually acceptable agreement.

And so the Maple Leaf flag was raised on federal buildings then lowered on Nov. 8 to honour Indigenous Veterans Day, an occasion first marked in Manitoba in 1994. After being raised again, the flag was to be lowered for this Remembrance Day. After that, it will fly at full-mast once more.

For some, this might seem a trifling issue. It is not a small thing to remember the men and women who have given their all for Canada knowing that whatever its flaws it is a country worth defending in this uncertain, often dangerous world. And surely a country so vast and diverse needs traditions like Remembrance Day and symbols like our flag to bind it together.

In addition to this, we should realize the act of remembering does not apply only to people and events in the distant past. There are young Afghanistan war veterans wrestling with post-traumatic stress disorder who deserve more help. Our new minister of defence, Anita Anand, should move quickly to procure the equipment our Armed Forces urgently need while finally ending the sexual misconduct and sexual assaults that have plagued our military for too long.

Lest we forget all these things, we have this day — and a flag flying at half-mast above the Peace Tower in Ottawa — to remind us.