Message from the President: Veterans' Week 2022
Dear Members of the University Community,
Each year during Veterans’ Week in Canada, we honour, pay tribute, give thanks, and remember the brave men and women who served—and who continue to serve—our country during times of war, conflict, and peace. We do this all week but in particular today, on November 8, Indigenous Veterans Day, and on November 11, Remembrance Day.
To learn more about Indigenous Veterans Day and the First Nations, Métis and Inuit people who have a long and proud tradition of military service, please visit the Indigenous Peoples page on the Veterans Affairs Canada website. I invite you to visit the display in the lobby of the Robertson Library for resources that cover topics about Veterans’ Week, including materials about Indigenous Peoples who joined the Canadian Armed Forces and fought in foreign lands, and books about women's contributions to Canada's military effort, including women from PEI.
On Friday, Canadians will join together and share a moment on the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, to honour the courage and devotion of all veterans who served Canada. We wear the poppy, our symbol of remembrance as a reminder and recognition of their sacrifice.
I encourage you to observe two minutes of silence at 11 am on November 11 at one of the various ceremonies across the province to reflect and remember. I am honoured to join Adam MacKenzie, president of the UPEI Student Union, to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph on behalf of the University at the Charlottetown Remembrance Day Ceremony. UPEI will also lower the flags to half-mast on Remembrance Day.
Our veterans gave of themselves to make the world a better place, with many of them paying the ultimate sacrifice and others returning home physically and/or mentally scarred. This week, we honour them, remembering that we owe so much to those who protected and preserved the rights and freedoms we enjoy today. Let us continue to stand and work together to ensure their efforts were not in vain.
Lest we forget.
Regards,
Greg
GREG KEEFE, DVM, MSc, MBA (he/him)
President and Vice-Chancellor (Interim)
University of Prince Edward Island
