When the present reminds us why we remember

By: Pamela Clayfield

Remembrance Day has always asked us to pause to honour the courage of those who served, to acknowledge the freedoms we hold because others stood in harm’s way, and to remember the cost of peace. But this year, the act of remembering feels different. It feels closer, like it’s more urgent and more personal.

On October 17, during a highintensity livefire training exercise at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, a fastmoving fire swept through the training grounds. Winds shifted suddenly, pushing flames toward soldiers who had only seconds to react.

In less than a minute, what began as preparation for future missions became one of the worst peacetime tragedies on Canadian soil. Sgt. Morgan Wong, Pvt. Shaun Farrell, Pvt. Aidan Goulding, and Pvt. Hayden Lykkemark lost their lives and thirtynine others were injured, many critically.

These soldiers were not overseas. They were not deployed. They were doing the quiet, unseen training that keeps Canada safe long before any conflict ever reaches our borders.

Training is where discipline is built, where readiness is forged, and where the promise to protect is lived out day after day. It is also, as Wainwright has reminded us, dangerous. Necessary, but dangerous.

Remembrance Day often centres on the past: the world wars, Korea, Afghanistan, peacekeeping missions, and the generations who served before us. But the tragedy at Wainwright pulls our gaze firmly into the present.

It reminds us that service is not a historical concept — it is happening now, in real time, carried out by men and women who wake up each morning prepared to give everything for a country they love.

It also reminds us that sacrifice is not always made on foreign soil. Sometimes it happens here, at home, in the quiet corners of Alberta or other training fields across the country.

Sometimes it happens during exercises meant to prepare soldiers for crises abroad and sometimes it happens so quickly that there is no time to do anything but run toward danger.

As Canadians, we often speak about the freedoms we enjoy such as the ability to gather, to vote, to speak openly, to live without fear. But freedoms are not abstract ideals. They are maintained by real people, with real families, who accept real risk.

The soldiers at Wainwright were preparing for rapid deployment to global crises, including reinforcing Canadian troops in Latvia next spring. Their work was part of a larger commitment to stability, democracy, and peace.

This Remembrance Day, we honour the generations who served before us, but we also honour those who serve today.

We honour the four lives lost in Wainwright, the dozens recovering from injuries, the first responders who ran toward the flames, and the families whose worlds changed in an instant. We honour the courage it takes to train, to prepare, to stand ready.

And we remember that gratitude is not passive. It is lived out in how we treat one another, how we show up for our communities, and how we acknowledge the cost of the peace we enjoy.

The soldiers at Wainwright were doing their part. Remembrance Day asks us to do ours: to remember, to honour, and to carry their legacy forward with humility and grace.