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Flyover at B.C. Leg to commemorate National Peacekeepers’ Day

Aug.9 marks biggest single-day loss of Canadian lives from peace operations
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A flyover is set to take place above B.C. Legislature on Sunday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. to remember the largest amount of Canadian lives lost in a single day to peace operations. (Michael Kaehler photo)

A flyover salute is set to take place above the B.C. Legislature on Sunday, August 9 at 7 p.m. to remember the largest single-day loss of Canadian lives during peace operations.

Forty-six years ago, nine Canadian Forces members died when their Buffalo aircraft was shot out of the sky over Syria in 1974. The Syrian Forces claimed they believed the plane, in white and blue United Nations colours, was an Israeli fighter jet.

Since 2008, the Canadian government has designated Aug. 9 as National Peacekeepers’ Day. Notably, B.C. was the first province to declare the Memorial Day for peacekeepers back in 1993.

“We are not only remembering those who have died in operations,” said Jim Macmillan-Murphy, president of the B.C. chapter of the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association, in a release. “We also remember those whose experiences are complicit in their subsequent death or whose service was cut short regales of the cause, no matter their mission at home or abroad.”

Mitzi Dean, MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin, and Randall Garrison, MP for Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke, will be joined by a small group of dignitaries at B.C. Legislature to place a poppy on a wreath at the cenotaph in downtown Victoria. A single Buffalo aircraft from CFB Comox is scheduled to fly over at 7 p.m.

The event will be live-streamed on the CFB Esquimalt Facebook page.

READ MORE: Victoria church to ring bells for 75th anniversary of atomic bombings


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aaron.guillen@goldstreamgazette.com