Nancy's Notes

These words were spoken by the President of the United States.

“We’ve never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them. They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”

I don’t use this language casually, but this statement is vile. Of all the reckless, ignorant, and cruel things Donald Trump has said over the years, this one has landed the hardest for me. Not because it is shocking, but because it erases sacrifice. It dismisses service, and he does so with the confidence of someone who does not understand war, coalition warfare, or the people who carry its consequences for the rest of their lives.

My readers have heard this before, but I am going to say it again, because context matters. Military service is not abstract in my family. My grandfather fought in the trenches of the First World War and was gassed at Ypres. He never truly recovered and died young as a result. My father was a pilot during the Second World War. My son serves today and his formal military education is in Military History and Strategic Warfare, which means I do not rely on slogans or soundbites when I speak about conflict. I rely on someone trained to understand how wars are actually fought. A different close family member, my nephew, served in Afghanistan.

So when someone who has never borne this weight speaks so casually, I hear erasure.

If anyone wants to pretend Canada “stood back,” let’s begin with a war that actually had a front line. In the First World War, Canada suffered approximately 66,000 deaths and 172,000 wounded from a population of just eight million people. The United States, which entered the war in 1917, sustained roughly 117,000 deaths, about 53,000 of them in combat, and approximately 204,000 wounded, from a population of around 100 million. Yes, the United States entered later. That matters but so does this. Canada’s losses were disproportionately high relative to its population. That is not the record of a country standing back. That is the record of a country carrying extraordinary weight.

In the Second World War, the United States suffered higher total casualties than Canada because it mobilized a vastly larger force. The U.S. recorded over 418,500 military deaths. Canada lost more than 45,000 service members. But again, proportion matters. Roughly ten percent of Canada’s entire population served.

Juno Beach is not symbolic, nor is Dieppe theoretical. These were not supporting roles. They were central to the conflict.

And then there is Afghanistan, where Trump’s claim collapses entirely. Afghanistan did not have a front line. It was an asymmetric, fragmented war, and that is precisely why the accusation that Canada “stayed back” is so dishonest. After September 11, NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history. An attack on one was recognized as an attack on all. Canada did not hesitate. Canadian forces were deployed, embedded, and trusted. They operated alongside American and allied troops in some of the most dangerous regions of the conflict. Per capita, Canada suffered among the highest casualty rates of any NATO country.

Higher per-capita losses are not evidence of weakness. They are evidence of proximity to danger. Canadian soldiers were not placed forward by accident. They were placed there because they were capable.

My nephew who served in Afghanistan once described the experience not in terms of politics or flags, but in terms of people. Of standing on parade and watching coffins draped in the stars and stripes being loaded onto aircraft. Of serving alongside Americans he lived with, laughed with, and trusted with his life. Of a brotherhood that did not care about the patch on your shoulder, only whether the person beside you would do their job when everything went wrong. That is the reality Trump’s words deny.

So let me end this where it belongs. Canada, we need to remember who we are. We are not a country that hides behind others or waits to be asked when history demands action. Again and again, we have shown up because it was the right thing to do. That history belongs to us, and no one gets to rewrite it.

To those who serve now, to those who have served before, and to the families who carried the weight alongside you, this country owes you truth, respect, and the refusal to let your sacrifice be diminished.

And let’s be clear. This was not just an insult to Canada. When Donald Trump said this, he dismissed all allied forces who answered the call after September 11. Every nation. Every soldier. Every family. That level of contempt does not stop at a border.

And we will not be told now, not by someone who doesn’t understand war, and not by someone whose record shows repeated contempt for service, sacrifice, and basic human decency, that we “stayed back.” We will not accept lectures from a man who has mocked prisoners of war, demeaned the wounded, and treated allied sacrifice as disposable.

Canada knows who it is. We have buried our dead. We have carried our wounded. We have stood forward when history demanded it. We didn’t stay back. We never have. And myself and my fellow Canadians are damn proud of that.