Canadians in provincial capitals across Canada, and the national capital, Ottawa, will soon see a number of historical banners hanging from light standards in their cities.
It’s part of a larger national educational campaign to raise awareness about Canadian participation in the World Wars, and Canadian history in general. The project is called “the Toll of War” organized by the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society,
Marc Milner (PhD) is the Director of the Gregg Centre and a professor of history at the University of New Brunswick.
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The Milton F Gregg Centre says it studies war as “complex social phenomenon” and that it seeks to increase understanding of “the causes, course and consequence” of armed conflicts.
He emphasizes that neither the Gregg Centre, nor this campaign is to glorify war in any way. In this case, it’s to encourage Canadians to learn about the individuals involved in heroic acts, the affect of war at home, and in a wider sense, learn more about Canada’s past role in the world and the country’s history.
The new ‘banner’ project involves selecting ten of the almost 100 Canadian who have been awarded the Commonwealth’s highest honour for bravery, the Victoria Cross. The ten images, one from each province, will be hung on banners in the capitals of each province, and in Ontario, the national capital, Ottawa.
The idea was on the one hand to commemorate the Canadians who went to war via this select group of Victoria Cross winners, and the other is to educate students on the contemporary lives of those people who were awarded this highest honour for valour, and the societal problems of what happens to the farms and factories when the young men, and women, go off to war, many of whom never returned.
From the number of Canadians who have been awarded the prestigious Victoria Cross, they’ve selected an individual from each province
and created banners to be hung from light standards in the capitals of each province.
The Gregg Centre at the University of New Brunswick is launching a campaign to educate Canadians about their history.
The hope to inspire Canadians to explore that history by seeing those Canadians who have performed incredible acts of bravery, and search out some information about them and by extension, learn also a little about Canada’s history.
A website is currently being created called Canada and the Experience of War. Designed to be interesting and engaging, the educational, historical, and resource site should be ready by sometime in August.
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