Speech by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien for the Inauguration of the Canadian Memorial Gardens

I am pleased to be with you today, to officially open this beautiful garden - a fitting honour to the brave Canadians who fought in the Normandy Campaign, more than 50 years ago.

Over the past week, we have marked the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the War in Europe. We have celebrated half a century of peace and stability. We have paid silent tribute to those who fell in battle - those who paid the ultimate price so that we could live in freedom. And we have expressed our deep, deep gratitude to the veterans who have shown a new kind of courage by returning to the battlefields of their youth.

It is fitting that we end this fiftieth anniversary tribute here in Normandy.

This is where the liberation of Europe began. This is where the tide was turned in the struggle against the tyranny of Nazi rule.

For Canadians, Normandy has a very special meaning. It marked the beginning of the end of the War - but it also marked another beginning... the beginning of a new Canada.

Canada landed on beaches of Normandy not under a foreign command, but as a full partner with the United States and Great Britain. By the end of that first day, on June 6, 1944, Canadian troops had advanced further into France than the troops of any allied nation.

In the heat and fury of war, Canada grew up. It happened in a typical Canadian way. Quietly. Without much fanfare. There was a job to be done. And we did it. As simple as that.

Our passage into adulthood was paid with the blood of 45,000 young Canadians. It was paid with the suffering of their families and comrades. It was paid with the loss of innocence in the horrors of war.

But in liberating others, we also liberated ourselves. From our own self-imposed limits. From our dependence on others - an ocean away - for an identity of our own. We stopped thinking of ourselves as part of an empire - and started behaving like a nation.

That started right here on the beaches and fields of Normandy. When for the first time in history a New World country returned to help liberate a mother country. The residents of this region marvelled at hearing their liberators speaking in French. In fact, many of the Canadian liberators who landed on the beaches of Normandy could trace their ancestry to this very region.

History came full circle, when the descendants of New France came to these shores to help rid this land of a brutal occupier.

And they did not come alone. They came with people from every corner of Canada. With people who spoke different languages, followed different religions, and had very different backgrounds. For the first time, we understood that we were more than just the sum of our parts. For the first time, we acted truly as a nation.

This Second World War generation did not finish its work in the battlefields of Europe. After they won the War, they came home to win the peace - for all Canadians. And that accomplishment was equally impressive.

With the confidence and maturity they gained in battle, this generation of Canadians built the lasting, modern institutions we enjoy in Canada today. They built the universities and social programs. The unprecedented prosperity and opportunity. And with the wisdom gained from the experience of war, they ensured that Canada became a full, active, positive force in the world, to prevent such a global calamity from ever happening again.

They built well. Better than they could have hoped. We are their inheritors. And we will never forget what they did in war and in peace.

This memorial is truly a fitting one to the sacrifice of Canadians in the liberation of Normandy. For like the legacy of these brave Canadians, it is a vibrant, living memorial. A symbol of the hope and humanity that can flower and grow even in the horrible darkness of war. And a symbol of the peace and opportunity that has flowered in Canada because of the sacrifice of these brave young Canadians.

It is also fitting that this memorial was designed by young Canadians - Canadians the same ages as those who fell more than fifty years ago. I salute them for the beauty of this design - and their understanding and appreciation of the great price that a previous generation paid.

I also salute the Canadian Battle of Normandy Foundation for conceiving this living memorial and, through dedication and hard work, transforming it into reality. And the city and people of Caen for their continuing recognition of the sacrifice of young Canadians.

Above all, I salute the veterans who are here today. We owe you so much. It is a debt that we can never truly repay. But it is one that we will never, ever forget.

We vow to you that we will work every day to live up to the ideals that you and your comrades fought for.