We just want to very simply commemorate Remembrance Day in Canada, November 11, 2021, with three performances of the haunting memorial hymn from World War I, “O Valiant Hearts” (on YouTube).

First is “A Tribute and Remembrance Video for the Canadians fighting in Afghanistan,” posted in 2009 — and with “O Valiant Hearts” as the accompanying memorial music.

Second is a vocal rendition of “O Valiant Hearts” by the Ottawa Children’s Choir at the National War Memorial. The date here, we think, is November 11, 2016.

Third is an undated instrumental performance of “O Valiant Hearts” by the Canadian Artillery Band “sous la direction de l’Officier commandant, le Capitaine Christopher Embree.”

In 2021 it seems especially appropriate to acknowledge the contributions of Indigenous veterans to the armed forces of the Canadian confederation created in 1867, by noting Veterans Affairs Canada’s online posting “Indigenous Veterans … The First Nations, Inuit and Métis of Canada have a long and proud tradition of military service to our country.” (And in this context it is also worth noting that “Canada” itself is an Indigenous word. See HERE and HERE.)

We simply conclude with the words to the first verse of “O Valiant Hearts” :
O valiant hearts who to your glory came
Through dust of conflict and through battle flame;
Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
Your memory hallowed in the land you loved.