As the poppy turns 100, the new face of remembrance emerges

Montreal -

It was the kind of virtual conversation that’s become the norm in a time of COVID-19, as students at Rosemont High listened to Warrant Officer Rene Doucet talk from a mess at the Royal Montreal Regiment.

What made his talk novel, was that he didn’t fit the typical mould of a Rembrance Day veteran; he wasn’t a soldier in the Second World War or the Korean War. Doucet had served two terms in Afghanistan in a military career that started with the Bosnian War and lasted 24 years.

“I think the younger generation, students like me especially, should think about it and realize why we have all the freedom we do today,” said Iman Abokor, a secondary five student.

Part of what Doucet talked about was the issue of mental health – specifically the importance of asking for help when a person needs it.

“People are coming back from Bosnia and Afghanistan and other missions. So people are coming back and some scars aren’t visible,” he said. “And PTSD, there’s a high rate of that right now and people need health.”

Doucet admits that while he wasn’t diagnosed with full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder, he did have a lesser condition that needed attention when he returned to Canada. He was in Kabul in 2004 and Kandahar in 2007.

For him, even though Canada pulled out of Afghanistan recently, the work the Canadian Armed Forces did there significantly improved people’s lives.

“We have to think of what we’ve done. While we were doing our job, it benefited the Afghan population while we were there,” he said.

“So, it’s time to reflect on the things that we’ve done and the sacrifices we made to achieve that.”