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This nation's recent deaths in Afghanistan will likely make today's memorial to Canadian peacekeepers killed in the line of duty one of the most highly attended, say organizers.
And the latest loss -- Friday of Cpl. Andrew James Eykelenboom in a suicide-bomber attack -- is one of more than 140 examples of an overseas deployment turning deadly, said Don Ethell, president of the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping.
"So, there's great interest in it now," said Ethell, a retired infantry colonel, adding event organizers wanted to ensure these latest casualties are also duly honoured.
"This must include our troops in Afghanistan, because, as far as we're concerned, it's a peace-support operation under a UN directive."
He said keeping warring factions from killing each other involves being in harm's way.
"The Canadians fought the Turks successfully for control of the Nicosia airport in Cyprus in 1974 and the 1993 Medak Pocket incident in Croatia where the Second Battalion (PPCLI) stopped the Croatians from moving forward with ethnic cleansing -- with casualties taken on both sides," Ethell said.
Peacekeepers Day 2006 starts at 11:30 a.m. today at Peacekeeper Park, near the intersection of 50 Ave. and Richard Rd. S.W.
Dignitaries will include Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, commander of Land Forces Western Area, and Tim and Sally Goddard, whose daughter Capt. Nicola Goddard was killed in Afghanistan May 17.
Local politicians, Veterans Affairs officials, representatives of the RCMP, Calgary fire and police and local military units will also attend.
The timing of the annual observance, now in its fourth year, coincides with the Aug. 9, 1974, Syrian shoot-down of a Buffalo aircraft, which claimed nine Canadian peacekeepers during a Mideast peacekeeping mission.