True and Fascinating Canadian History
National Peacekeeping Monument
Ottawa, ON
Each year, Canada sets August 9th aside as the day it honours all Canadian Peacekeepers who have served or who are serving in support of Peace Operations at various trouble points around the world.
Beginning in 2008, August 9th was chosen to commemorate the events of August 9, 1974 when nine Canadian Military Peacekeepers serving with the UN Emergency Force in Egypt and Israel lost their lives when their plane was shot down over Syria.
Now, the Canadian Military and Vets as well as police officers come together each August, for ceremonies across Canada to commemorate National Peacekeepers’ Day. In Ottawa, a national ceremony is held at the Peacekeeping Monument on the Sunday closest to August 9.
The Memorial Service is organized by the local Chapter of the Canadian Association of Veterans in UN Peacekeeping (CAVUNP), the Canadian Armed Forces, Veterans’ Affairs Canada and the RCMP.
Since the first RCMP UN Mission in Namibia in 1989, about 3,000 Canadian police officers have served on international peace missions each coordinated through the RCMP. Canadian police officers offer training, mentoring and advising their counterparts overseas on every aspect of policing. Today, (2015) there are more than 140 police officers from across Canada serving in Afghanistan, Sudan and Haiti.
The first two deaths in the history of the RCMP’s International Peace Operations occurred in January 2010, when RCMP Chief Superintendent Doug Coates and Sergeant Mark Gallagher both died in the devastating earthquake in Haiti. R. I. P.
In December 2005, retired RCMP Sgt. Mark Bourque also lost his life in Haiti while serving with CANADEM, a Canadian non-governmental organization (NGO). R. I. P.
Chief Superintendent Douglas Coates,
& Sergeant Mark Gallagher,
& Sergeant Mark Bourque (R'td)
