YORKTON - Saturday was the 2025 edition of graduation at Sacred Heart High School.
Just around the corner are the same ceremonies for Yorkton Regional High School.
Attending such ceremonies as you do when you are the local weekly newspaper always provides a certain boost to one’s future vision for our community, province and perhaps most importantly given the voice of dissent suggesting separation, the future of our nation.
It is the young people of today, those graduating high school, those nearing Grade 12, those attending university and trade schools who are our future.
As cliched as that may sound it remains the absolute truth.
So it is paramount those young people are given the broadest education possible so they can make the best decisions for our nation.
We know Canada has warts and scars and bruises – all nations do.
That simply means we need to do better.
Is democracy based on representation by population ideal?
Well, any form of democracy which affords people the right to vote without threat of reprisals is a rather important foundation for every nation to aspire too, and in Canada we have that, although the cost has at times been high.
Anyone doubting that democracy comes at a cost need only attend Decoration Day services at the Yorkton City Cemetery this Friday (June 6), and see the rows of crosses marking the graves of local military personnel who died protecting democracy and Canada’s future through three major wars.
One look at the crosses and the realization of what they gave up to ensure our nation survived will also make one wonder why some are suggesting separation simply because they do not like the results of the last federal election.
But back to our flaws as a nation.
The answer for Canada’s future is to do better as a nation.
How that better, united future for Canada comes about will rely in large on the efforts of today’s young people – like the graduates we are currently celebrating.
It will fall to them to manoeuvre Canada to the best future possible for themselves and for the families they will start as they head out on the journey of which high school graduation is merely the first step.
Hopefully they will see a Canada diverse in its acceptance of all, where varied cultures are welcomed, woven into the nation’s fabric making it a stronger cloth than each thread on its own.
It’s a huge responsibility they face, but if our society has done its job in creating an inclusive and diverse education we should feel confident they are up to the task.
May all our local graduates go forth and build a better, bolder, united Canada.
