Remembering HMS NANCY - Victoria Day Weekend

On behalf of the Directors of the NANCY-GRIFFON Fund Inc and the HMS NANCY Project I thank you for allowing me the honour of joining you here today. This is my first time visiting the new site for the replica of H. M. Schooner NANCY here within the future site of the new Collingwood Heritage Harbour on the beautiful southern shores of Georgian Bay of the great Huron nation, here at olde Wendake Bay. As I was driving up here from Barrie through the beautiful countryside settled by our forebears, I couldn’t help but thing to myself, that while the Directors, staff and the volunteers who are helping to make the new NANCY a reality, that I could help but think about the brave men and women who lived, served and offered succor to their new homeland and who are buried in innumerable small quaint little graveyards from Matchdash Bay to Collingwood and from Saulte Saint Marie to Amherstburg who served aboard this brave little schooner, the NANCY. While I am very proud of the many volunteers who have made this new site possible, I am true awed by the herculean efforts of the crew of H.M. Schooner NANCY, members of the Provincial marine and the land forces that helped to preserve this land during the fire storm that was the northern stage of the War of 1812 through to 1815 on these northern shores. Here among red and white maples, the sturdy red and white oaks and among the beech trees and pines along these magnificent shores and upon the blue and gray waters of the Lakes, both storm tossed and calm, over 1,000 Canadians now lay here, resting peacefully under the endless skies of Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. The Ojibway and Shawnee long give their praise to Gitchigomie their God of the Great Manitou for their fallen braves as well. They rest in silence. On a typical day, except for scattered footsteps or the soft gurgling of a stream, or cresting of a wave on shore, I imagine you could walk row after row of headstones, some no longer legible, some no longer seen, some no longer there, without hearing a single sound. But their spirit lives on in all of us.

Though long past, this was no foreign war. This is our past, this is our collective heritage and conscience. The memories of loved ones speak to us so strongly that when we stop and listen, we can't help but hear life. And once a year on this day, in the fullness of spring, in the presence of those who never really leave us, it is their life that we honour, it is their deeds that we honour, it is their memory that we honour, its their land that we honour; it is from those hands the torch has been passed to ours so long ago. Lives of courage, lives of sacrifice, and the ultimate measure of selflessness - lives that were given to save others. What led these men and women to wear their country's uniform? What is it that leads anyone to put aside their own pursuit of happiness; to subordinate their own sense of survival, for something larger than they - something greater than they? Behind each stone is one of these stories; a personal journey that eventually led to the decision to fight for one's country and defend the freedoms we enjoy. Most of the Canadians who rest here were like my grandfather, a doctor, a WWI vet who volunteered to serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps, or my father another doctor and vet who served in WW11 in the Canadian Medical Corp but was lucky enough to came back in one piece, and went on to live well into his twilight years. My grandfather never boasted about it. He treated the fact that he served in the military like it was only a matter of fact. And so it is easy for us to forget sometimes that, like my grandfather, of the many men and women resting here who went before them, whose service spans almost two centuries of conflict from the War of 1812 to the Wars in Iraq and now Afghanistan , chose their path at a very young age. These were kids, and young men who went to war. Many from the naval service on the Atlantic conflictThey had a whole life ahead of them - birthdays and weddings, holidays with children and grandchildren, homes and farms and happiness of their own. And yet, at one moment or another, they felt the tug. Maybe it was a Commissioner’s call to fight for the Union Jack and to hold the land free from southern expansionists. Many had been tossed off their lands in the old country before, shouted “Never again”

Whatever the moment was, these men and women thought of a mom or a dad, a husband or a wife, or a child not yet born. They thought of a landscape both here and abroad, or a way of life, or a flag, or the words of freedom they'd learned to love. And they determined that it was time to go get the job done. They decided: "I must serve so that the people I love may live - happily, safely, freely." The “Canadians” who lay here beneath our feet and in our soil believed. And when they waved goodbye to their families so long ago - some for the last time - they held those beliefs close to their hearts as they served onboard the little NANCY in these sacred northern waters. They knew their destiny, while others mightier than they had failed, and failed again, they knew their schooner would never let them down. And they made us so very proud. Not so long ago. Their lives now live on in our history books, but unfortunately so far away from the very Canadian students who need to learn their stories of bravery and heroism. No matter how many “ghosts” you may meet, or how many stories of heroism you may hear, every encounter reminds you that through their service, these men and women had lived out the ideals that stir our Nation still - honour, duty, sacrifice and to hold steadfast. They're people like Lt Commander Miller Worsley and Captain Alexander MacIntosh. Like Major William Allan her supplier from Richardson Forsythe in York who made sure than the little NANCY received everything she needed. Others like Lt Livingston and Lt McDougall and a host of Ojibway and Shawnee Chieftains who were awarded commissions by King George 111 for their service. All now who lay beneath the soil of their beloved land.
It is this quintessentially quiet Canadian optimism that stands out in all their stories. To have meet these men and women, now only available to us in the story books, would give you a clear sense of the quality of person we had serving in the Provincial Marine of Upper Canada. Books written by Hutchinson and Berton to mention but a few.But today, on this Day there is a quiet restlessness that seeks the story of the little NANCY. It is time to bring her home and the story of those who served aboard her. She must sail the Lakes once again.

I won't begin to pretend that simple words of praise for the little schooner NANCY could or would ever be enough to bring her back. But we the people of this great Province of Ontario need to do that. To do so, is to understand her sacrifice and that made by her crew. Others far less informed cry havoc, others cry “small potatoes” from sites like Fort George on the Niagara that capitulated, or from Fort York where the military simply ran away and did so twice.

Really? Is this what our school system in Ontario teaches our children today? Forget and dishonour the service of past veterans. That out of sight is out of mind, has never been truer. That is why we must bring HMS NANCY back. This story needs to be told and told again. We must honour our past, we must honour our heritage. We must never forget! It is our duty to remember those who knew they duty, nothing less will ever do.
But I will say to those listening today and to parents of children who are listening for them, that the heroic service of the little NANCY and all those who served aboard her, they serve as a shining example of what's true and best in this land. As King George 111 remarked in 1815: “The solemn pride that must have been theirs to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom is truly impressive . I sincerely hope and pray that those who follow, cherish this scared memory of their love for Country and lost for ever"
Here on this hallowed ground and in ceremonies yet to come, we choose this day as HMS NANCY set out on her final voyage in 1814, to solemnly honour those costly sacrifices - sacrifices that were made on the Lakes of Ontario and in so many distant but not so distant places. It makes our hearts heavy; our heads bow in respect.
Honour and remember HMS NANCY as we honour the freedom of our lands.