by Marney Blom
Despite suffering devastating losses at the storming of Dieppe, France in 1942, fearless battle-tested Canadian soldiers returned to Europe to help change the course of World War 2.
Oh Canada, I was deeply saddened by what we witnessed in Ottawa this week: the abuse of power by the government in invoking the Emergency Measures Act and the level of police brutality on unarmed, peaceful citizens rightfully protesting the government’s violations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It left me numb and sickened. It felt like Canada had died.
Yes, there were unlawful border blockades — which I do not condone. But they were all cleared before the EMA was invoked. There were also parking infringements and the unavoidable presence of rogue elements who showed up with their confederate and Nazi flags, infiltrating the movement in an attempt to tarnish it. But there was no violence, no burning of police cars, no shattering of storefronts or throwing of molotov cocktails. In Ottawa, the protest was legal. The Freedom Convoy organizers had requested and had been granted permits by the Ottawa police.
Tens of thousands of trucks, and an estimated two million people had come to Ottawa in hopes of dialoguing with the prime minister or one of his delegates. As days eclipsed into weeks, the trucker’s protest against mandatory vaccines for cross-border travel became a nation-wide protest against mandates and against the government’s violations of the Canadian Charter of Rights of Freedoms — over the past two years. The Freedom Convoy became the largest protest in Canadian history, uniting both English and French Canadians. Then, instead of dialoguing with the protestors, the government invoked the EMS and we all watched in horror as riot and mounted police pushed back, beat and even stomped on unarmed protestors underfoot.
After some days of processing these events, what came to mind is a plaque I discovered in the Dieppe Gardens in Windsor, on the path along the Detroit River. With pictures and maps, it details the WW2 Invasion of Dieppe on the coast of France and its impact on Canada.
Here is what it says …
Eighty years ago, on August 19, 1942, the Dieppe raid was the first and only large-scale assault on the coast of German-occupied France prior to the allied landings in Normandy in June 1944. It’s goal was not to “seize a bridgehead, but to test the feasibility of seizing a habour intact, then considered a prerequisite in the landing of the vast allied forces needed to liberate Europe.” It was, in essence, a test of the German Wahrmacht for future advance. Of the 6,000 soldiers sent on the mission, 5,000 were young and idealistic Canadians chomping at the bit, eager to enter the war in Europe. However, within ten hours, the might of the Germans proved to be fierce and impenetrable. 907 Canadian soldiers were killed, 2,460 wounded and 1,946 captured. Evil had slaughtered the Canadians fighting for freedom.
“Back home, the casualty figures … dramatically touched virtually every family in Windsor and Essex County as people lost fathers, sons, brothers, grandsons, cousins, nephews, neighbours, school mates, work-mates and friends.” MP Paul Martin Sr. noted, “That was one of the saddest days in Windsor’s history.”
This could’ve been the death knell of the Canadian forces but … wait for it … it WASN’T!
The Canadian fighters returned to England and rebuilt. Battle-tested, they fearlessly returned in 1944 and 1945 and attacked Dieppe as well as played significant roles in defeating the enemy at Caen, Falaise, the Scheldt, the Hochwald Forest, Groningen and Germany. Though they had sustained a devastating blow in1942, the Canadian forces did not give up. Instead, Canadians warriors with their Dieppe experience, became instrumental in turning the course of WW2 and defeating Hitler.
Canada — this is who we are! Dieppe is in our DNA.
The Second World War proved to the world that the Canadians were a formidable fighting force — for freedom. Our warriors continued to advance and enlarge. At the close of WW2, Canada had the third largest navy in the world.
So take heart Canadian warriors fighting for the freedoms ascribed to us in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Pray, pray, pray and keep advancing in the opposite spirit — that of hope, truth and love.
And let’s watch history repeat itself.
Marney Blom is news director for the Acts News Network.
To view an excellent discussion of the current state of Canada and the significance of the Trucker’s Convoy. Pls see link.
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