On Nov. 11, Canadians will gather at cenotaphs, stand in school gymnasiums and pause in workplaces to remember those who served and those who never came home.

We will wear poppies. We will bow our heads. We will observe two minutes of silence.

But remembering should mean more than standing quietly once a year. It should mean understanding what was lost so we could live as we do.

The Canadians who went to war were people with families, friendships and plans for their futures. They came from farms, small towns and cities. They left behind parents, spouses and children, often without knowing whether they would see them again.

They knew fear. Courage did not spare them that. They faced the possibility of death, terrible injuries and the loss of the people serving beside them.

Some never returned. Others came home carrying wounds that changed the rest of their lives.

Their families bore the cost, too. Children grew up without fathers or mothers. Husbands and wives faced a lifetime without the person they loved. Parents mourned children they had expected to outlive them.

The freedom, security and opportunity we enjoy in Canada owe an enormous debt to that service. The chance to raise our families in peace, build businesses and prosper did not come without sacrifice.

That is why the allegations recently reported in Hamilton are so deeply disturbing.

As reported in our coverage, Hamilton police say two boys approached air cadets collecting donations for Remembrance Day poppies on Nov. 1 and sounded an air horn directly into their ears.

A 59-year-old supervisor followed the boys into a restaurant to confront them. Police allege that, during a struggle, a woman assaulted him and one boy repeatedly struck him.

The man suffered injuries police describe as life-altering. A 12-year-old boy and a 48-year-old woman have been charged with aggravated assault. The boy also faces an assault charge.

The principle should be beyond argument: young people collecting poppy donations should be safe. The adults supervising them should be safe. Nobody should have to risk serious injury while helping Canadians remember their war dead.

At 12 years old, a child is old enough to know that hurting someone is wrong. Youth should not become an excuse for cruelty or a shield against meaningful consequences. Respect must be expected and those who harm others must be held accountable.

When wrongdoing is proven, consequences should include substantial, mandatory community service alongside appropriate penalties. That means showing up, doing demanding work under supervision and serving the country and communities they have disrespected. A warning and an apology are not enough. They should be required to give their time and effort to something beyond themselves.

Those found responsible for defacing memorials or statues of our founders should be required to pay for the damage and put in substantial hours of supervised work serving their communities. The burden of cleaning up their destruction should not fall on taxpayers and volunteers. A name carved into a cenotaph represents a person who never came home and a family left to grieve. Desecrating that memory deserves consequences that demand time, effort and accountability.

Those who chant for Canada’s death while enjoying its freedoms should answer a straightforward question: if they despise this country so deeply, why choose to make it their home? Canadians who express the same contempt should consider what their lives would look like under a government that punishes dissent and denies the freedoms they take for granted. The freedom to condemn this country was secured through sacrifices they have never been asked to make. They owe those who served far more than contempt.

That responsibility belongs to everyone, whether their family has been here for generations or they have recently made Canada home.  Anyone who enjoys Canada’s freedoms while showing contempt for those who defended them owes this country some hard work and accountability. It is easy to mock sacrifice when someone else has borne the cost. Those who gave their lives cannot speak for themselves. We should have the backbone to insist that their memory be treated with respect.

Those who sacrificed for Canada helped protect our freedom to speak. We also have the freedom and the responsibility to say when behaviour is shameful.

This Nov. 11, think about the fear behind the courage. Think about the families waiting for news. Think about the children who never again felt a parent’s embrace.

Then think about what we owe them.

Wear the poppy. Attend the service. Teach a child whose name is on the local cenotaph. Show respect to the veterans and cadets standing beside you.

They helped make it possible for us to live in freedom and build a future.

The least we can do is remember them with gratitude and conduct ourselves as though their sacrifice matters.