honeybadgerpress.ca

Remembrance Day Redacted

Hill Times: November 12, 2025

On November 11 Canadians honor the terrible sacrifices made by the nation’s living and departed veterans. This remembrance ought to include all military casualties rather than a redacted roster.

Remembrance Day 2025 ceremonies will exclude the names of elite military casualties since successive governments have been taciturn on Canada’s secretive military deployments. The lone exception was the 2007 admission that a JTF2 commando had died while repairing a communications tower in Afghanistan.

There is an understandable hesitation to scrutinize military deployments when soldiers are being killed and wounded on overseas missions. Since military members are discouraged from questioning orders, civilians must do so on their behalf, lest more lives be spent for the political and financial gain of those issuing commands and profiting from military adventurism.

Canada’s recent governments have increased both the size and budgets of elite units like JTF2 and the Canadian Special Operations Regiment as a practical and economical way to simultaneously demonstrate Canada’s military prowess and support America’s global military activities.

Canada has already established military “hubs” in Germany, Kuwait, Jamaica and Senegal. Plans for other hubs in in Eastern Africa, Southeast Asia and East Asia are pending. These bases will be the staging point for elite Canadian troops operating under U.S. command authority, further insulating their activities from public scrutiny and accountability.

Operational security notwithstanding, the government’s opaque policy on special operations is a concern for Canadians who expect timely information about the nation’s military activities.

Such transparency might enhance public discourse and reduce the possibility of future debacles like the infamous Somalia Affair that led to the political sacrifice of Canada’s highly-respected Airborne Regiment.

On Remembrance Day, Canadians deserve to know the names of all the nation’s fallen soldiers, not a roster cynically redacted for political purposes. Past wars have created enough unknown casualties.