Ottawa, Ontario, Tuesday, February 2, 2016

What a pleasure to be here in support of the Hill 70 Memorial Project.

The attack on Hill 70 in August 1917 was among Canada’s most important contributions to the First World War. The objective was to relieve pressure on Allied forces at Passchendaele and to seize a high point of land—known as Hill 70—near the city of Lens, France.

In this, the brave and capable soldiers of the Canadian Corps were successful. Not only did they capture the high ground, they held their positions against determined enemy counterattacks for days.

But it all came at an enormous cost: more than 9 000 Canadians were tragically lost in the battle.

It’s so important that we remember their sacrifices, as well as the sacrifices of those who were wounded.

We must also remember the cost to their families and friends. The lives of so many people were forever changed by those events in August 1917.

It’s such an honour to be patron of the Hill 70 commemorative project, which seeks to memorialize the battle with a monument and educational program.

Fittingly, the goal is to complete the project in 2017, a century after the battle itself and, incidentally, 150 years after Canada’s birth as a nation.

As we all know, the First World War was a conflict that was initially expected to last only a few months.

That the “war to end all wars,” as it became known, continued for more than four years at a cost of an estimated eight-and-a-half million soldiers killed—as well as tens of millions wounded, physically and mentally—helps to explain why the world pledged “never again” after the Armistice.

Let us keep this in mind as we remember the sacrifices and remarkable service of Canadians at Hill 70.

There is nothing glorious about war, and we owe it to those who fought and were killed and wounded to remember its terrible cost and to work together to build a more fair, just and peaceful world.

I would like to thank Ambassador Chapuis for hosting this reception at this beautiful embassy.

Thank you also to the friends and supporters of the Hill 70 Memorial Project for your dedication to preserving and sharing this important part of our military history.

I wish you the very best.