As Canada marks D-Day anniversary, Trudeau says democracy ‘still under threat’

The sun was shining on the beaches of Normandy on Thursday morning as a Canadian ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day got underway in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his French counterpart Gabriel Attal and Prince William were among dignitaries visiting Juno Beach, where flags bearing the Maple Leaf fluttered in a gentle breeze.

In the front row of a crowd of thousands were 13 Canadian veterans in military uniform, the oldest of them 104 years old, who survived the war effort on the same beach so many decades ago.

“There are no words to describe the immensity of the debt we owe you,” Trudeau told them as he delivered an address noting the remarkably important role Canada was given in the Allied effort.

Behind him, the waters of the English Channel were calm, and a navy ship could be seen offshore. A sand dune was covered in wild roses and other flowers and grasses.

Against that tranquil backdrop, Trudeau delivered a warning.

“Our way of life didn’t happen by accident, and it won’t continue without effort,” he said.

“Democracy is still under threat today. It is threatened by aggressors who want to redraw borders. It is threatened by demagoguery, misinformation, disinformation, foreign interference.”

He said the world owes it to the veterans who sacrificed so much for our collective freedom to continue standing up for democracy every day.

In his own address, the French prime minister warned that the world must not fall into submission.

Around 160,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches that fateful day 80 years ago to begin an effort now remembered as the beginning of the end of the Second World War.

In all, 4,414 Allied troops were killed on the first day of the invasion, including 381