On Remembrance Day, the Premier has it wrong

This morning, the Premier’s office released a statement on behalf of Blaine Higgs in recognition of Remembrance Day. It begins with this paragraph:

“This year, as we reflect on Remembrance Day and those who have courageously served, we must also reflect on the unrest in other parts of the world. Modern-day conflicts, like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war between Israel and Palestine, remind us that freedom is not given; it is fought for and earned, protected by the brave and the valiant.”

The Premier is committing a shocking level of historical and political illiteracy by equating the Hamas attack on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli military attacks on Gaza with the First World War, for which Remembrance Day was established. The current policies of the Israeli state towards the Palestinian people, called “a text-book case of genocide” by former director of the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Craig Mokhiber, are not being carried out by the “brave and the valiant” for “freedom.”

The cavalier exploitation of history by those in the political realm is extremely damaging, not only to our current understanding of conflict, but to the very thing that is inherent in the act of remembrance – the caution for us to avoid the repetition of the past actions which brought the world to the point of terrible destruction. The Premier’s half-baked statement actually undermines the very notion of “never again.”

I would suggest that the Premier and anyone else who may see the current conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories as somehow comparable to the First World War to gain an understanding of the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian people.

Canada’s own foreign policy position on Israel-Palestine recognizes the reality that Israel is an occupying power:

“Canada does not recognize permanent Israeli control over territories occupied in 1967 (the Golan Heights, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip). The Fourth Geneva Convention applies in the occupied territories and establishes Israel’s obligations as an occupying power, in particular with respect to the humane treatment of the inhabitants of the occupied territories. As referred to in UN Security Council Resolutions 446 and 465, Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The settlements also constitute a serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.”

As an occupied people, the Palestinians have the legal right to resistance. Unless the Premier is referencing the armed groups currently fighting Israeli forces when he speaks about a fight for freedom, which I doubt he is, then his statement is grossly inappropriate and ahistorical.

As the grandson of a veteran (my grandfather recently received his 75-year pin from the Royal Canadian Legion), I am incredibly disappointed at the Premier’s apparent lack of tact when making statements regarding Remembrance Day. These attempts to cast all current conflict in the same light as Canada’s past military deployments does a disservice to our shared understanding of history. All wars are not equal, and suggesting that the current conflict is in any way similar to the First World War puts forward the implicit logic that it must be fought.

This sort of moral equivalence is dangerous, and should be checked. Given how high the tensions are running between great military powers, now armed with nuclear weapons, it is imperative that those in the political realm at all levels understand how careless language can exacerbate already chaotic situations. We must not allow the sacrifice of those who fought in previous wars to be used as a justification for the continuation or expansion of any current conflict.

Quite frankly, I believe this particular attempt to shoehorn the Israel-Palestine conflict into the realm of Canada’s own military history is an insult to the memory of those veterans who volunteered to serve and die in the horrific act of war.

This Remembrance Day, the most important thing we can do to honour our elders and veterans is to call, loudly and without fear, for peace.

Ryan Hillier is a writer and settler living on the banks of the Petkootkweăk.