A new poll just out shows 70 per cent of Canadians think observing the two minutes of silence on Remembrance Day should be mandatory, not voluntary. As well, 57 per cent think the government should enact a law that all public transit and vehicles where possible should stop for two minutes at 11 o’ clock to honour Canada’s war dead.
A spokesman for Veterans \Canada disagrees: “We don’t need to legislate this. We need to remember our soldiers have fought for freedoms – freedom of the press, freedom of religion. and the freedom to mark two minutes of silence or not.”
Should there be a law to mandate two minutes of silence on November 11?
What do you think?
I agree with the Veteran’s spokesman… no need for new laws. They discuss the day in public schools, nobody’s forgetting rememberance day. Why do so many people turn to making laws to get what they want?
Niel: I made a few comments yesterday on the abortion thread that were awaiting moderation – and they’ve just disappeared? What’s up with that??
I also agree with the Veteran’s spokesman. It is reductionism — give them two minutes and then assume we’ve done our duty. Rather than a mandatory silence, wouldn’t it be better to talk to the veterans, listen to their stories?
I also agree with the Veteran’s perspective. They fought and some died for the cause of freedom and a better world, so this is what should be mandatory, not some stupid rule re: silence!
Also, some of us need whatever noise is necessary at 1100 hrs to deal with the H1N1 pandemic that is upon us. This is another war! Although some are still not taking it seriously, close to half the beds in the ICU in which I work are filled with H1N1 patients. Within Ontario, Ottawa is the epi-center — treating more H1N1 patients than anywhere else in the province. Last week, 86 elective surgeries were cancelled in my hospital alone! Demand in the E.R. has risen 40%! Although it is called ’swine flu’, it is genetically speaking, a combo of a human flu strain, avian flu and swine flu. Get your vaccinations folks!
Mandate one to remember? It can’t be done.
Taking time out to remember our troops comes from the heart.
One cannot mandate the heart. Our troops wouldn’t want mandated rememberances.
The only places I know where they legislate respect is in totalitarian countries, like Cuba.
Enough laws! I don’t need to stop anywhere and remain silent to remember the veterans. Just a look at the poppy I wore all week and a thought about my father who fought in 1914 and even 1912 against the Turks (he was in the Greek army).
I, too, agree with what that spokesman said.
I’m a military veteran, myself. And when I got out of active service and joined a veterans’ organization, for the first few years, I fumed in frustrated silence every time I was on parade on Remembrance Day. All the other veterans around me were pretty sloppy in their drill and deportment, shuffling instead of marching, and those lines! could we get them any more crooked?
Then I got talking to someone who had actually been in France during WWII, and I asked him why nobody made an effort to stay crisp and smart during the parade. And he said to me, “I did crisp and smart in basic training. There wasn’t any crisp and smart in the trenches.”
So…crisp and smart, or two minutes of silence…those who fought, fought for the rights of all to be free of behavior mandated by those who seek only to control those whom they consider to be “inferior.” Let us not add to their burdens.
No! Don’t we have better things to address?
It means more because it’s voluntary.