Elrose student wins National Literary Contest

The Legion Foundation’s National Literary Contest winner is Grade 12 student, Aarika Haque from Elrose Composite School. Aarika will attend the National Remembrance Day ceremony on November 11 where she will place a wreath at the National Cenotaph.

Aarika has frequently been the local winner of Legion Remembrance Day poster contests since she was in Grade 3, also winning at the District level on one occasion. She said she entered the essay contest in order to voice her opinion and didn’t really expect to win.

As she got older, Aarika noticed contributions of women and men of different backgrounds and ethnicities didn’t receive the recognition they deserved. She spoke specifically about the experiences of Indigenous peoples and African-Canadians who enlisted in large numbers but were too often “second-class citizens in their own nation”.

“Remembrance should be a feeling embraced in our hearts,” Aarika said. “A feeling taught to every soul in our nation.”