Community comes out for Remembrance

This year’s Remembrance Day parade was the largest in almost two decades, with hundreds of veterans from multiple branches of the Canadian and American armed forces joined by the community in remembrance and celebration of the sacrifices of veterans, living or passed.

“It was a beautiful day, and the turnout was great. Hopefully next year, we can do the same thing and it’ll be successful again,” said Tara Jacobs, who served four years with the United States Marine Corps from 1992 to 1996 and now works as an intelligence analyst for the Kahnawake Peacekeepers.

“We appreciate them coming out and paying their respects as well. I know a lot of people have family members that have served in the military and have moved on into the Spirit World. I’m speaking for myself, but I’m sure every other veteran is very grateful that community members come out and watch the parade,” said Jacobs.

This year’s event was held lasr Saturday, November 9.

“The community really showed up and showed their support, it was the biggest it’s been in probably 20 years. I feel great, proud, and honoured,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) council chief Ryan Montour, who also served in the Marine Corps from 1990 to 1994.

Both Jacobs and Montour are on the executive committee of the Royal Canadian Legion Mohawk Branch 219.

After a community breakfast, the colour guard parade marched towards the Cenotaph, where commemorations of veterans who had lost their lives in the previous year were held.

After the outdoor celebrations, a veteran’s dinner was held at the Legion by the Ladies’ Auxiliary, where Montour said that 350 plates were served. Along with local veterans were others from outside of town, including a large contingent from the HMCS Donnaconna, who had met at the Legion earlier in the year.

This year, the celebrations put an emphasis on female veterans.

“Being in the service, there’s some thinking that it’s just a men’s thing, but people forget that there’s also women that serve in the military,” said Jacobs. “I think it was a great honour to be honoured by our fellow veterans this past weekend.”

She said that she got to meet for the first time with some community members who are veterans on Saturday because of the push to include female veterans this year.

“There are new faces that came out, and community members that I know who they are, but I never had the chance to meet them, and it was a great opportunity to do so. We just hope that in the coming years that they come out and participate every year,” said Jacobs.

Montour said that the Legion “recruited hard” to get female veterans to come to Kahnawake for the celebrations on Saturday. Of the 25 female veterans from Kahnawake, 12 were present on Saturday.

“It was really great to see them be honoured,” said Montour.

Funds were also raised for the Legion, with money going towards the Legion’s general upkeep as well as men’s veterans’ sports, at Montour’s behest.

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