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The centenary of the end of the First World War is commemorated on Remembrance Day, but to what extent are today's youth aware of what happened a century ago?
"War is taught differently across the country, with education being a provincial responsibility," said Canadian War Museum historian Tim Cook.
"And studies have taught us that in Quebec, war does not sound the same way. I am not as concerned about this as some people. I have three girls, 14, 12 and 10 years old (at the French immersion school in Ottawa) who are learning war. They learn the day of remembrance. They have a ceremony there. It is an event that still seems to be of concern to many Canadians, even though we may not be able to remember some battles or dive into history. "
Many of the Canadian soldiers killed in the Flanders Fields during the First World War have never been identified and are in unmarked graves, such as the one seen here at the new Pbadchendaele British Cemetery.
Chris Doucette / Toronto Sun
Ontario Ministry of Education spokesman Derek Luk said the province's Education Act provides for a Remembrance Day service in every school on November 11 ( or the previous Friday if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday) and First and Second World Wars are officially introduced a Grade 10 compulsory history course and children can learn more through Grade 11 and 12 elective courses
"Students have many opportunities, depending on their age, to learn about Remembrance Day, wars and conflicts, and the contribution of veterans," Luk said.
The President of the Royal Canadian Legion Youth Section, Derek Moore, Youth Education Leader for the Province, explains that the Legion also organizes an In Flanders Fields poster and literary contest each year in the province from the beginning of the year. the school year to November 11th.
President of Youth Education, Derek Moore, Provincial Command of the Royal Canadian Legion in Ontario. (picture provided)
"Each year, we invite schools to participate in the contest to produce either a painting, poem or essay on the theme of Remembrance. For the poster section, in Ontario, we invite students from grade one to grade twelve. On the literary side, from the fourth to the twelfth grade, "said Moore, 64, born in Britain, whose Canadian father had World War II.
"I know through many links with the poem (In Flanders Fields) and much of the material they produce contains a line or two of the poem. Let's be honest, the number of admissions we've got has dropped dramatically over the last four years. So four years have pbaded, we have had 60,000 entries and we are now at 40,000. "
Wild poppies grow in the "trench of death", a trench system preserved from the First World War in Belgium on July 14, 2017 in Diksmuide, Belgium. (Jack Taylor / Getty Images)
Moore, who lives in Mount Forest, near Wellington, Ontario, sometimes says that the problem of geography is also related to the way students receive the information.
"There is a lot of information available," said Moore, a member of the Legion for 40 years.
"I mean, obviously, with the Legion, we have this competition, but the Veterans Affairs Department has all kinds of free materials that they send us and we also send to schools. Again, it varies from one school to another and from one region to the other. I do not hit cities at all, but I think in small towns it's a bit more practical, and a little more personal. "
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