On April 9th, the students and staff of Iroquois Ridge High School commemorated the 99th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge by walking 3.6km from the high school in Ward 6 to the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 114 in north Oakville.
This distance symbolically represented the 3600 Canadian soldiers who died in that battle. This was also an opportunity for the IRHS students to raise funds for their 2017 historic trip to Europe to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the battle that defined our Country and considered as the "birth of our nation". IRHS students will be joined by thousands of students from across Canada in France on April 9, 2017.
I along with MP Pam Damoff, were honoured to walk with the students and help carry the Canadian flag along the route to the Legion. When we arrived at Branch 114, we were greeted by a number of Veterans and the students got to meet and talk with them.
Legion President, Steven Thomas, welcomed everyone and encouraged the students to get involved in the Legion through volunteerism. Comrades Thomas and Stacey indicated that all the money raised by the Legion goes to support our local community. Volunteer opportunities which count towards high school volunteer hours included helping on Friday nights serving wings or fish fry and helping to sell poppies in November.
When speaking with IRHS principal, Ms. Darlene White, it was evident the pride she had in her students and how supportive she was walking along with them. Ridge teachers, Mr. Jovan Djurdjevic, Ms. Erin Leahy and Ms. Monique Gazan accompanied the students wearing their trip t-shirts with the Vimy Ridge memorial on the front and the slogan "The Ridge is going to The Ridge. Vimy 100" on the back. Their passion for history and teaching could not be more obvious.
Canadians are thankful every day for the many sacrifices of our Veterans and on special days like April 9th that feeling of gratitude is multiplied. Lest we forget.