Remembrance Day can’t simply be reduced to November 11th, 11 a.m. across this country—it’s something to be acknowledged every day. And on that note, Bob McKenzie of TSN takes note of a sad—and very current—tradition:

The Highway of Heroes is what Highway 401 between CFB Trenton and Toronto is called because it is the path our fallen soldiers take when they arrive home. The bodies are repatriated at CFB Trenton and the motorcade - the black hearse containing the soldier’s casket with the black limousines carrying the family of the fallen soldier - then speeds along the 401 to the Coroner’s office in downtown Toronto for the official autopsy.

Living in Whitby, just east of Toronto, I do not even want to guess at how many of these ceremonial drive bys I have been witness to, but it’s a lot. And I must tell you for those who live in other parts of the country, this is a chilling and stark reminder that Canada is indeed at war and Canadian troops are in combat, harm’s way, every minute of every day of every week of every month until further notice.

Read the rest here. Incidentally, I saw a non-Canadian reader around here the other day wondering why they see poppies on the lapels of the NHL’s coaches during the games every November. A fair question, and the symbolism of the ritual is explained here.

Or you could just read In Flanders Fields, which is probably the only poem I learned in grade school that I can still recite verbatim to this day.