Through the Opera Glasses - 61 - Each Loss Hurts

It has been eight years since Canada has been engaged against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

During that time, Canadian news stations have routinely broadcast the national mourning of each and every returned soldier who gave his life or her life. As of this blog post, that means 150 repatriation scenes have played out before Canadians.

Sometimes the families assembled at the Trenton air base stand stoically as their loved one emerges from the airplane in a flag-draped coffin. Most often, the sight of the coffin causes the family members to buckle under the weight of the truth now set before them.

As I watched the news last week, it really struck me when the family of Sgt James MacNeil crumpled in pain amongst the others standing respectfully to attention.


Having dismounted from his armoured vehicle, MacNeil stepped on an improvised explosive device.

Sgt MacNeil was the 148th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan.













CLICK HERE to watch the video clip of Sgt James MacNeil's repatriation

What gave so many Canadians pause was the immediate pain felt by so many in Sgt MacNeil's home community of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.


CLICK HERE to watch the video clip of Sgt MacNeil's funeral in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia



Cape Breton is a tightly-knit island region. What happens to one Cape Bretoner happens to every Cape Bretoner.

At this grim milestone, the raw reaction of this soldier's family, friends and community is a reminder to all of us that each loss hurts.

Travis Cody says Sgt MacNeil has my eternal gratitude for his service and his sacrifice, as do all the men and women who serve and sacrifice in the name of duty.

Akelamalu says The people of Wootton Basset, here in England,seem to spend all their time lining the streets paying their respects to repatriated soldiers these days :(

Three Seconds of National Coverage

After work on Monday, I headed to The Paper Chase in Halifax to buy Starlog magazine. It's a sci-fi fantasy mag that mainly covers film and television, but also reviews books, games and websites. It's a hefty $12 in Canada, but its depth of coverage is well worth it. I've been reading Starlog for thirty years and have the back issues to prove it.

It's harder to find in Halifax than in Toronto, and I wasn't surprised when The Paper Chase was sold out of it. So I walked up to The Daily Grind at the top of Spring Garden road to see if they still had any copies left.

I made my way along the diagonal walk past the library and saw a reporter and a videographer waiting at the other end. I thought they were waiting to do a take, but it turns out they were waiting for me.

The reporter was John Vennavally-Rao from CTV. I'm a news junkie and recognized him right away. He asked if I would make a few comments about the early daylight savings time coming this weekend, so I said ,"Sure." It was painless and even kind of fun.

So off I went to The Daily Grind, where Starlog was waiting for me. Once I got home, I told my mom and husband, and I put a tape in the VCR for the 11:00 national news just in case I made the broadcast. Sure enough, they ended with a piece on daylight savings time.

Vennavally-Rao said most people he'd talked to were looking forward to it, and they cut to me as the lead-in response. "I think most people need something to pick their spirits up," I said for all of 3 seconds. Then another man makes a comment, and they save a third woman for the end. The piece goes on to warn about computer timekeeping gliches and having to manually change them.

Thus begins my PR odyssey. I'd better start each day as if I'm ready for my close-up. You never know who's going to be waiting around the next bend in the road.

Click on the link to see the footage. Once on the CTV page, click on the video footage at right.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070305/daylight_savings_070305/20070305/