Editorial

Half-mast or not half-mast

Canada may not have the biggest or best equipped armed forces on Earth, but they are proud. Having long been known as a peacekeeping force, Canadian soldiers are now fighting on the front lines in Afghanistan. It’s regrettable, but actual wartime operations are bound to kill more soldiers than peacekeeping objectives. A current great divide in Canada is whether to lower the flags to half-mast when one of our fellow citizens dies in the performance of his or her duty.
If memory serves, the first media frenzy for fallen soldiers was when four Canadians were inadvertently bombed by an American fighter plane. The whole country was shocked, perhaps rightfully so, but the decision to lower the flags was questionable at best, especially considering that our fighting men and women assume the risk of death when they sign on. Now, every time someone falls, their repatriation has to receive as much intense coverage as those first four. It doesn’t matter if it is one soldier, or 21, they would all deserve it.
When the federal government announced that flags would no longer be lowered following the deaths of Canadian soldiers, it ignited a controversy. Many felt that playing down the deaths was an insult to our soldiers.
When our soldiers fell in Bosnia, there was no big hoopla for them. Flags weren’t lowered; the CBC wasn’t on the tarmac in CFB Trenton to televise the “home-coming”. The flag should only be lowered on Remembrance Day, the national day of mourning and remembrance. The flag wasn’t lowered during the Second World War for the personnel who fell overseas, and a good few of those never returned.
Soldiers are soldiers, and war is war. Should we honour them for their hard work and sacrifice? Absolutely. Is there already a day when the entire country honours our fighting forces and remembers the fallen. You bet, it’s called Remembrance Day.
DVB


Proud of our grads

Just as spring is known for birth and rebirth, early summer is becoming the ‘graduation season’ and we’d like to congratulate the many grads who donned cap and gown – or just suits and ties (or T-shirts) in Slave Lake last week.
The Northern Lakes College grads are certainly worthy of the praises that were heaped on them last week .
“Some times you’ve got to give that door a push, and sometimes you’ve got to kick it open,” Community Education Committee chair Richard L’Hirondelle told grads. To their credit, the many who paraded last week did what they had to to open that door for themselves.
The program said Lesser Slave Lake MLA Pearl Calahasen would speak to the grads, but in fact she was busy at other grads (plural) that day. And to her credit, we believe that for whatever reason, she made her appearances where the support and backslapping was really needed.
Students at Swan River, their administrators, chief and council were celebrating not just a graduation, but also the fact that Swan River First Nation’s school had “graduated the highest number of students in all of Treaty Eight in the 10 years of its existence.” Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Minister Calahasen was there to congratulate the people who made that Decade of Success a reality, one huge success.
Hours later she was at St. Mary of the Lake Outreach grad where six students celebrated the fact that they, too, had finally made it. At that ceremony the minister told the graduates how proud she was. We agree.
MPR