Deachman: Where have all the Remembrance poppies gone?
...........Schools aren’t the only venue where youths can learn about Remembrance Day and its significance. Beechwood Cemetery, for example, has since 2018 annually taken part in No Stone Left Alone, a national campaign of remembrance to honour Canadian veterans. In the days leading up to Nov. 11, youths at Beechwood place poppies on the headstones of more than 7,000 veterans buried there. This year’s ceremonies, which will take place on Nov. 5 and the 9, will see more than 100 Grade 5 and 6 students, and about 200 Girl Guides, from the region take part.
“You can’t shame people into remembrance,” says Nick McCarthy, Beechwood’s director of marketing, communications and community outreach. “You have to figure out how it’s meaningful to them. It has to be an act of reflection, and not performative.”
McCarthy stresses that teaching youths about Canada’s military history shouldn’t be about the numbers and dates, but about how it affects Canadians. “We have to understand the sacrifice, and there are people out there who are still sacrificing, every day, on behalf of our country. And it’s also about the families who are spending months and months without their loved ones. You wear the poppy because you want them to know that you’re there for them.”.....