Every year, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the country goes still. Traffic slows, classrooms fall silent, and for two minutes an entire nation stands together in gratitude. It is one of the few moments when millions of people, in cities and small towns alike, choose to do the same quiet thing at the same time.
At Action Pest, we take that pause seriously. As a family-run business rooted in Hamilton, Burlington, and Oakville, we spend our days protecting the one place people should always feel safe: home. Remembrance Day reminds us why that safety, and the peace that comes with it, was never something to take for granted.
What Remembrance Day Truly Honours
Remembrance Day marks the end of the First World War in 1918, but it has grown to honour every Canadian who has served in uniform since. The soldiers at Vimy Ridge. The sailors on the North Atlantic convoys. The aircrew who flew into the dark and did not always return. The men and women who served in Korea, in peacekeeping missions around the world, and in Afghanistan.
It honours the ones who came home and the ones who did not, the veterans still among us carrying wounds we cannot see, and the families who waited and, too often, grieved. The Government of Canada’s Remembrance Day resources describe the day as a chance for all Canadians to recognize that service and sacrifice. Behind every name carved into a cenotaph is a family that gave more than most of us can imagine.
The Freedom to Simply Be Home
There is a reason the idea of home sits at the centre of this day. So many of those who served did it for something ordinary and precious: the chance for the rest of us to live quiet, safe lives, to raise families under our own roofs, and to come home at the end of the day to a place that is warm, secure, and ours.
That is the very thing our work is built around. Every home we protect across Hamilton, Burlington, and Oakville is someone’s refuge, and keeping it safe and comfortable is a responsibility we are grateful to carry. On Remembrance Day, we are reminded that the peace of a protected home is a gift, one that was secured for all of us by people willing to give everything.
The Poppy and the Promise
The red poppy has become the enduring symbol of remembrance, inspired by the flowers that grew across the battlefields of Flanders and immortalized by a Canadian, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, in his poem In Flanders Fields. The Royal Canadian Legion’s poppy campaign runs each year from the last Friday of October until November 11, and the poppy is traditionally worn on the left lapel, close to the heart.
When we pin one to our coats, we are making a quiet promise: that the sacrifices made will not be forgotten, and that the freedoms secured at such cost will be valued. Small acts, repeated by millions, keep memory alive.
Remembering Together as a Community
Here in Hamilton, Burlington, and Oakville, remembrance is woven into the community. Each year, residents gather at local cenotaphs and legion halls to lay wreaths, listen to the Last Post, and stand together in the cold for two minutes of silence. Veterans march, cadets stand at attention, and families bring children who will one day carry these memories forward.
As a local business, Action Pest is proud to be part of these communities, and mindful every day of the freedoms that others secured for us. We get to serve our neighbours, build something with our family, and go home each night because generations before us were willing to risk, and often give, everything.
So today, we set the work aside for a moment. To the veterans among our customers, our neighbours, and our friends, thank you. We see what you carried, and we honour it.
Lest we forget.
