LaSalle’s deputy mayor and student p.m.’s spoke on Nov. 11th

In the background is Father Stan Fraser. In the foreground is Deputy Mayor Mike Akpata , who is also a Canadian-Afghanistan war veteran, spoke on behalf of the mayor during the Remembrance Day ceremony at LaSalle’s Cenotaph Park on Mon., Nov. 11, 2024. Photo by Ken Pastushyn.

By Kenneth Pastushyn.

The Town of LaSalle commemorated their traditional Remembrance Day Ceremony inside the Civic Centre’s Cenotaph Park on Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. 

This year’s Remembrance service was in honour of the 10th anniversary of the end of the war in Afghanistan for Canadians. 

Father Stan Fraser invited any Afghanistan veterans present to stand if able and raise their hand so the audience could thank them.  

Father Fraser also acknowledged the memory of Doug Hedge, who was a member of the LaSalle Cenotaph Committee and the Windsor Veterans Memorial Service Committee. 

Each year, council prime ministers of St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic Secondary School and Sandwich Secondary School spoke at the ceremony.  

“Across Canada and in LaSalle, generations of men and women left behind the comforts of home because of wars and conflicts,” said Bella Cope, 17, student Prime Minister at Villanova.  

Cope paid respect to soldiers serving in faraway places such as Vimy Ridge, Normandy, Korea and Afghanistan, as well as United Nations peacekeeping missions. 

“I owe the good life I live to those courageous soldiers,” said Meridith Reynolds, 17, student Prime Minister of Sandwich. 

Reynolds also said the poppy we wear over our hearts and the ones we see on wreaths are symbols of our remembrance. 

Since the Mayor of LaSalle, Crystal Meloche, was unable to attend that day, Deputy Mayor Mike Akpata, 57, spoke on behalf of her worship and members of the town council.  

Akpata referred to the verse from the poem In Flanders Fields. 

“Young people answered Lieutenant Colonel McRae’s call for it is ‘to you from failing hands we throw the torch,’” said Akpata. 

Akpata is also a Canadian veteran who fought in the war in Afghanistan.

“On Remembrance Day we stop and pause,” said Akpata. “For those of us who fought, every day is Remembrance Day.” 

At the end of the ceremony, Akpata said he agreed with the student prime ministers that freedom comes at a price. 

“Freedom isn’t free,” said Akpata. “There is a price that Canadian families have paid and continue to pay.”