Red, White Indifferent
Negotiating Remembrance in Canada
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In 2010, the Highway of Heroes Mural was unveiled as a tribute to the fallen soldiers and their families who travel along the Highway of Heroes as soldiers' bodies are taken home from Afghanistan to be buried. The graffiti mural is placed at the final point of the highway, right behind the Coroner's office, so it will be the last thing the family sees before their loved one is laid to rest. The mural was a joint effort between the Peel Regional Police and the Flemingdon Neighbourhood Services Youth Centre, and was painted by a team of 5 youth, led by Jessey Pacho. The main symbols are the dove, to represent peace, the poppies in the grass to symbolize remembrance, and the saluting soldiers on the bridge as a sign of respect for the sacrifice the soldiers made. Sadly, the mural was defaced in 2013, but a group of artists volunteered to repaint it.
While this mural was legally authorized, some artists have also created remembrance graffiti without authorization, such as the numerous poppies seen across Brantford, Ontario. While the City has made no comment or efforts to remove them, the public is torn as to whether the symbol gets its message across or is simply graffiti. A Facebook discussion arose on a local war association page, and while some thought the artist should have more respect for private property, another remarked that this symbol should never be considered graffiti.
Veterans Affairs Canada now maintains an online virtual memorial where people can search for the photos, stories, information and achievements of over 118,000 Canadians who have served. It allows families of the military to ensure that the sacrifices of their loved ones will never be forgotten.
Veterans Affairs also encourages people to send E-Cards or Postcards for Peace to let individuals connect on a personal basis. Postcards for peace encourages young people in particular to send messages to members of the Canadian Forces, past or present, to personally thank them for their sacrifices.
There was an outpouring of poetry, mostly negative, after WWII and there are even collections and books dedicated to war poetry. War poetry is still being written but it is far less popular than it once was. However, there are new and different types emerging, like war slam poetry. It is poetry with a rhythm, almost like a rap, and often produces a very emotional, insightful and personal display.
Increasingly detached and apathetic about war and military history, young Canadians and their parents alike have found themselves asking: what is in remembrance for me and what do I get out of it?
People have always used art, poetry, music and stories as a way to express their grief, anger or even hope. Whether these displays stay private or are shared, they are a way for individuals to connect with remembrance on a personal level. But the ways individuals are choosing to express remembrance is changing; art that hangs in a museum is turning into graffiti, music is becoming 15 second viral videos, while stories are manipulated into online memorials.
The way individuals express themselves has always been important for understanding the attitudes of a society as a whole. "What’s really useful is to focus on the local level, whether it’s a school or a church or a neighbourhood and try to find out about the individuals, and not only the individuals who enlisted and served in uniform but individuals whose life was touched by the wars in other sense; maybe a woman who worked in a factory, or a kid who remembers growing up and doing wartime scrap tribes," said Jonathan Vance, a War Scholar and professor at Western University. "I think if we can encourage remembrance through that very personal element that’s what’s going to be the most effective."
People may no longer feel connected to Remembrance Day ceremonies, war memorials or monuments because so many of them focus on wars that we are now distanced from. It has been 100 years since WWI and very few people still have a deep personal connection to it. Our generation has not experienced war in the same way that previous generations have; there has been no mass enlistment, no daily casualty list read over the radio, and no consensus on the morality of our military actions. Such a disconnect makes individual displays of remembrance more meaningful and applicable to our lives.