Sunday October 22, 2023 | VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends | VANCOUVER ISLAND NEWS
All Canadians are aware of November 11 as Remembrance Day. It’s a statutory holiday across Canada and many thousands of Canadians show up for remembrance ceremonies in cities across the country.
Meanwhile, a lesser-remembered day in recent Canadian history will perhaps become another memorial day. That would be October 22, the day in 2014 that people saw a Canadian soldier and reservist on ceremonial sentry duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial when he was shot — gunned down in broad daylight right on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Corporal Nathan Cirillo, 24, was shot and killed.
The gunman continued on into Centre Block at the Parliament Buildings and was shot and killed by RCMP officers; among others, Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons, Kevin Vickers (a former RCMP officer) was commended for taking on the gunman. The attack was considered a serious security breach in Ottawa, which led to gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau exchanging fire with police officers and parliamentary security personnel in Centre Block.
And only two days earlier, Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, 53 — a 28-year veteran of the Canadian Forces — was killed on October 20, 2014 after being struck in a hit-and-run attack by a lone wolf terrorist in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.
Although those tragic incidents happened only nine years ago, they don’t register high on people’s awareness about that date on the calendar.
MacGregor introduced Bill C-333:
In the spring session of parliament this year, on May 18 Alistair MacGregor, MP (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford) introduced Private Member’s Bill C-333 (seconded by Gord Johns, MP for Courtenay-Alberni) that seeks to annually mark October 22 as “Peacetime Service and Sacrifice Memorial Day” to commemorate the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members who have made the ultimate sacrifice while on Canadian soil during peacetime.
“October 22 has taken on significant importance for the veterans community in my riding,” said MacGregor, adding that “more than 2,400 Canadian Armed Forces members have lost their lives on Canadian soil during peace time”. He pointed out that “since 2013 more than 54 members of the CAF have died as a result of PTSD alone”.
He also noted the death of a relatively new member of the CAF, Snowbirds Captain Jennifer Casey, just over three years ago.
Two days of remembrance:
MacGregor says on his website that every year on Remembrance Day Canadians are proud to honour the Canadian service members who have fallen in combat, but what’s often overlooked is the number of service men and women who sacrifice their lives while on Canadian soil.
Similar to the recognition that fallen CAF members receive every year on Remembrance Day, Bill C-333 seeks to distinctively honour the more than 2,400 CAF members who in the last 99 years have lost their lives in non-combat roles on Canadian soil.
MacGregor’s bill also calls for the Canadian flag on the Peace Tower in Ottawa to be lowered at half-mast every year, on October 22.
Petition for Bill C-333:
People can sign a petition to support Bill C-333 on the Alistair MacGregor constituency website.
The petition information page points out that between 2013 and 2019, 104 members of the Regular Force and 20 members of the Reserve Force have died by suicide.
Local leadership:
Every year since the 2014 incident in Ottawa, Bob Collins — a former member of the Queen’s Own Primary Reserve infantry regiment in Winnipeg, and currently a member of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 134 (Malahat) here on Vancouver Island — stands at attention at the Cobble Hill cenotaph. MacGregor singled out Collins as “the driving force” behind Bill C-333.
Today MacGregor posted in social media that he attended a special ceremony at Cobble Hill Cenotaph in remembrance of Corporal Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent.
