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Address by Prime Minister Paul Martin to the National Memorial Service
March 10, 2005
Edmonton, Alberta
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No matter the era, it seems that children always want to grow up to be police officers – to wear the uniform, enforce the law, catch the criminal. There’s a timeless appeal to this impulse. It reflects a young mind’s growing understanding of right and wrong. It reflects a young heart’s yearning to keep people safe and families whole.
Years pass, children grow up, but for some the desire, the dream, remains. The idealism and fantasy of a child give way to the realism and determination of an adult. There are bad people in the world, and they do bad things. Someone must stand against them.
Anthony Gordon, Lionide Johnston, Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann: This was their dream. They dedicated themselves to standing up for what is good in our world, to serving their community, to protecting their neighbours.
With their loss, we are left numb that a single act of hate has affected so many lives, caused so much grief, interrupted so much love. With their loss, there is a singular intensity to our mourning – those who have fallen have done so selflessly; those who have fallen have done so in service to a nation, to an ideal; they have fallen in service to us.
We use the word debt to remind us of something owed. The people of Canada owe an untold debt to these four officers and to their families. We owe a debt to each and every woman and man who chooses to put on the uniform, to submit to risk, to face harm, to uphold the law. The presence here of so many police officers, from cities and communities across the continent, is a testament to the camaraderie and the devotion that thrives within the law enforcement community. The bonds forged by dangers shared are strong and they are everlasting.
Most Canadians know these four constables only through media reports and the official RCMP photographs we’ve all seen on television and in newspapers. It can be heartbreaking to look at those pictures, for in their faces there is youth, and in their expressions a solemn dedication to duty – a duty that would ultimately call for the greatest sacrifice.
But look closer, and in their eyes there is pride. Look closer, and on one, even the hint of a smile. How could they not have been proud? They were members of our national police force. They were Mounties.
To wear the uniform of the RCMP is to dedicate oneself to feats of courage and nobility of purpose. These four young men, alive in the early summer of life, rest now in the serenity of God’s embrace. They are mourned by neighbours, and by a nation. Their memory will be eternal. So too will our gratitude.
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