#A lonely day of remembrance in a time of COVID

Image of the Week: A symbolic reminder that it is now up to everyday Canadians to keep our veterans safe

Seventy-five years ago, more than a million Canadians travelled overseas to help defeat Germany during the Second World War. If not for a pandemic, tens of thousands of Canadians—surely more than the usual 30,000 who gather at the national ceremony in Ottawa—would have come together to pay tribute on a unique anniversary to those who served in 1945, not to mention the veterans who’ve since worked made sacrifices to keep everyday Canadians safe. In a cruel irony, it is now up to everyday Canadians to keep our veterans safe. While Canadians over 60 years old make up just a quarter of all this country’s COVID cases, they comprise more than 90 per cent of deaths. As new the biggest provinces shatter COVID case records every day, and even the Atlantic Bubble and territories are now seeing new cases pop up for the first time in months, social distance has become more important than ever. No doubt many of the country’s 33,000 living Second World War vets are now confined in long-term care homes, unable to see their loved ones. Next to the actual virus, loneliness and isolation have arguably been the biggest dangers of 2020. Hopefully, this week, our veterans could at least take a moment of silence knowing they weren’t alone.