Remembrance Day is a time to step back from our hectic lives and pay homage to the men and women who have fought so bravely to ensure the freedoms we have today.
While everyone can agree Nov. 11 is a day for commemoration, Canadians can’t seem to agree on the best way to do so.
In most of Western Canada – from Manitoba westward – Remembrance Day is a statutory holiday, while Eastern Canada – from Ontario eastward – businesses remain open as usual.
Last year, when the City of Ottawa passed a municipal bylaw requiring most of the city’s businesses and services to remain closed until 12:30 p.m., many owners protested the idea saying the loss in revenue would be too great.
This kerfuffle was ultimately made in vain as the business owners’ objections were overruled, and it’s a good thing they were, too. However, this doesn’t mean all business owners are pleased with having to adjust their hours for the day.
While for many years prior, businesses across Ottawa have been allowed to maintain regular business hours on Nov. 11, sacrificing a few hours in the work day should not have been contested as much as it was.
If it were not for the brave men and women who fought for the freedoms we enjoy today, many would argue those businesses up in arms over lost revenue would not even exist without them.
Providing everyone with an opportunity to attend commemoration ceremonies should have been an understandable sacrifice on the part of businesses for the sacrifices of past and present soldiers in the armed forces.
The fact people are still begrudgingly complying with the year-old bylaw or view the adjustments to business hours on Remembrance Day to be an inconvenience is plain disrespectful.
What really boggles the mind is how such bylaws have not been in place sooner, in the nation’s capital, no less.
For those who had complaints, they should be glad they are allowed to open on Nov. 11 at all.
While it is a holiday in some provinces, Ontario’s veterans have chosen otherwise in order to ensure students are exposed to Remembrance Day in school and are taught the significance of the date, according to Robert Butt, director of communications for the Royal Canadian Legion.
There is a lot of additional merit in keeping Remembrance Day a non-holiday as well.
With the exception of Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter, most other holidays have lost all real meaning, evolving into excuses for excess and bad behaviour.
Look no further than Victoria Day and Canada Day as prime examples of that point.
Remembrance Day is too important to allow its intended meaning to slip into oblivion like those other holidays have.
Lest we forget.