Brigadier-General Rob Roy MacKenzie spoke about remembrance, service and sacrifice at the annual Remembrance Day ceremony Thursday morning at Southpointe Academy in Tsawwassen.
The South Delta resident spoke alongside his daughter Meaghan who is in Grade 12 at Southpointe.
MacKenzie, who spoke with the Optimist this week prior to his presentation, said there was two parts to his message.
"One is to really present a very significant message of how much sacrifice has been done and how we remember that on Remembrance Day in general, but specifically as a father who served, I will be speaking about how important it is for my kids, other kids and the next generations for service," MacKenzie said.
MacKenzie was appointed Chief of Staff Army Reserve last September.
He brought a long and distinguished military career to the position with more than 31 years of service in a number of roles and deployments with both reserve and regular forces.
He is also still active in his second career as a Sergeant with the Vancouver Police Department, which he started in 2000.
MacKenzie was brought up knowing the importance of serving and giving back to ones community and country. His father served in the RCMP and his mother was a nurse.
"Just that type of service and sacrifice, it was really ingrained in my life," he recalled.
He said it has been an honour to serve and give back to his country and he still is proud to serve to this day.
"For me it is about our children and the next generation," he said. "The world continues to be a more challenging place every day. I just want to do my part to make it as safe as it can be and sustainable for generations to come and the generations that my children will grow up in and their children will grow up in."
He said Remembrance Day is a special day of reflection that all Canadians should take part in.
"We have a very distinguished past and so many have served and given the ultimate sacrifice, but so many others have served in many ways and suffered all kinds of pain and still continue to serve, so for all those reasons Remembrance Day is a very important day to send a couple of key messages."
