Alon Ary wants the terrors of war to never reach his son like it did for him and other members of his family.
Ary, who attended Saturday’s Remembrance Day ceremony at the B.C. legislature with his wife and young child, said it meant the world for him to see his son — happily running around the cenotaph after the service — enjoying a peaceful, happy life.
“It’s very, very important that you have this kind of ceremony and to remember that it’s not just peaceful everywhere,” he said. “It can always change.”
The family had recently moved to Victoria from Tel Aviv, with Ary leaving Israel on Oct. 6, a day before the Israel-Hamas war began.
His grandfather, a 95-year-old holocaust survivor, has often had to take refuge in bomb shelters, he said.
Inclement weather was no deterrent for the nearly 1,800 gathered at the B.C. legislature cenotaph for Remembrance Day ceremonies, one of several services around the capital region.
In his remarks, Rev. Andrew Gates told attendees that it is the ordinary people who suffer in times of war.
“The innocents killed in the parking lot of a hospital in the Gaza Strip. The reservist who served with the Patricia’s at the Medak Gap, sitting at home in his basement contemplating suicide looking at pictures of what he saw … the list is too long, there are too many others,” he said in a prayer.
The skies cleared just long enough on a rainy and windy morning for a rainbow to frame members of the Canadian Scottish Regiment marching along Government Street just before the legislature gathering.
The singing of the national anthem marked the start of ceremonies at the legislature, followed by playing of the Last Post.
At 11 a.m., two minutes of silence was observed in the rain.
Shortly after, the Victoria Arion Male Choir sang Flowers of the Forest, the official lament of the Canadian Armed Forces.
As choral voices swelled, the 5th B.C. Field Regiment began a 21-gun salute.
At the cenotaph, B.C. Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin laid the first wreath and Silver Cross Mother Sheila Fynes the second, on behalf of all Canadian mothers who have lost a child in military service.
Dozens of representatives from the government, the military and veterans associations followed suit.
MP Laurel Collins represented the government of Canada and B.C. MLAs Rob Fleming and Grace Lore attended on behalf of the province. Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto and Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter were also present.
Bill Wilson, president of the Royal Canadian Legion Trafalgar/Pro Patria Branch No. 292 in Victoria, who accompanied Austin during the ceremony, said the legion is on track to raise the $200,000 to $225,000 that usually comes through the poppy campaign.
The funds are usually donated to local charities that help veterans and their families.
The legion also uses some of the money to directly help Victoria-area veterans who have found themselves in tough situations, he said.
Veterans are among those who are affected by the ongoing economic crunch, he said. “They can’t make the rent, they’re sleeping in the car, they’re living rough. We have resources we set aside to give them a bit of a bridge to try to get them out of that situation.”
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