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As my colleague Warren Kinsella reported on X, masked pro-Palestinian supporters interrupted the ceremony in Kingston. Additionally, Ottawa-area MPP Lisa MacLeod reported that at Sir Robert Borden Secondary School in the nation’s capital they played a “song in Arabic that did not follow the protocol of the Royal Canadian Legion” and “Jewish Students in Distress.”

Kinsella called it “madness.”

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Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow didn’t say this kind of nonsense. The problem was that it took a while to get to the elected chief magistrate because the non-elected person in the protocol had the microphone for a very long time.

Chow also paid tribute to the non-combat construction battalion which certainly deserves a pat on the back for its contribution to victory in World War I through the logs it cut and the trenches it helped build.

“Their story,” Chow said, is a “powerful reminder of the resilience and strength that diversity brings to our armed forces…despite discrimination, these courageous men accepted the call to serve.”

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ALL RIGHT

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Chow also mentioned Toronto’s first combat unit, the 48th Highlanders, those who stormed the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago and the service of those who served and died in Afghanistan — eight of whom were Toronto, including the fallen corporal. Matthew McCully, whose mother Valerie McGrady laid a wreath.

There were many emotional moments like that, including veteran military officer Adrienne Batra, editor of the Toronto Sun, also laying a wreath. Emily Cathcart brought a photo of the grandfather she never met, Lloyd Simpson, who worked on Morse code in England during World War II, and Michael Harrison, whose father, Ivor, joined the navy from Belfast at age 16 before coming to Canada after the war and remaining here until his death in 2018 at the age of 89.

“My dad and I always came here on Memorial Day,” Harrison said.

They always do it.

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But when we compare the crowds at these ceremonies today versus in the past, it’s clear that interest in our fallen soldiers is waning. On my way to this year’s ceremony at Old City Hall, I noticed on the roads, on the trains and at Union Station how few people were wearing poppies.

“It’s definitely not like the 1950s,” said Don Cherry, who was fired from television for asking people to wear them.

For fear of forgetting? It seems many have already done so.

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