If you hadn’t seen the map above, could you have listed a single military operation Canada is involved with? Would you have had any idea what roles our troops had taken on? From humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, rehabilitation efforts with international governments, and training the police forces of crumbling societies to firing at the enemy, Canada’s troops really have done it all.

 

The narrative of remembrance in Canada has been very limited; we read poems and letters written during the World Wars, honour the veterans who stormed the beaches of Normandy, and feel sadness over the losses of many rural farm boys and factory workers who found themselves in the position of being able bodied and thus, conscripted.

 

But is there a larger narrative we’re ignoring? Afghanistan is the longest war Canada has ever participated in, and for many Canadians, the only war to happen in our life time. Should the symbolism of sand not hold the same virtue as the field of poppies?

 

Many Canadians have found it easy to write off what happened in Afghanistan, in part due to lack of knowledge, but also due to a perceived immorality. “The problem with recent wars is there’s still debate as to the political legitimacy of it and so it’s difficult for them to be commemorated in the same way as the First and Second World War where there’s less discussion of those political issues,” explains Johnathan Vance. “Something like the highway of heroes where people go to pay tribute to the bodies coming back from the Middle East, the jury is still out as to if someone can do that without implicitly passing judgement on the policies of the participation in the Afghanistan War.”

 

But does controversial mean it’s not worth remembering? Does controversy make the Afghanistan war any less important to Canadian identity than our role in the World Wars 100 years ago?