韦恩赖特基地悲剧之后：加拿大前总督伍冰枝谈军人奉献与国家哀悼

Host: Prime Minister Mark Carney has called it, quote, "one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peace time." A major fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta that left at least four people dead and 19 people in critical condition. Those killed were members of the Third Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

We're joined now by Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada, who serves as the infantry's colonel-in-chief. Before we begin, madam, my colleagues and I would like to offer our condolences not only to you, but those affected by the tragedy at CFB Wainwright. We appreciate you taking the time as well to chat with us.

Adrienne Clarkson: I'm very appreciative of your comments and of the feelings of everybody around you. We are all in mourning now and I'm very appreciative of your thoughts. Thank you.

Host: Madame Clarkson, you have been the colonel-in-chief since 2007, and I see that you have the infantry's pin on as well. Talk us through your relationship with this infantry.

Adrienne Clarkson: Well, I'm very proud of this pin, which you can see here. It's diamonds, and it's the crest of the Princess Patricia's. And this pin, this very pin, the money for it was raised by Princess Patricia's first in the field in the First World War and given to Princess Patricia, who became Lady Patricia on her marriage to the commoner Sir Alan Ramsay. She vowed that she wouldn't marry till the war was over and that they had won. And then she got this pin from them as her wedding present.

That pin was passed on to Lady Patricia, Countess Mountbatten, and she gave it to me. So I treasure it, and it's quite a wonderful pin, and I'm very proud of it. I always wear it to regimental occasions and anything having to do with our regiment. And I've been colonel-in-chief for 20 years and have a very close relationship with the Princess Patricia's, whom I think are not only first in the field as they always have been, but are a wonderful, wonderful regiment with the Loyal Edmontons, of whom were commanded by my husband's godfather Rowan Coleman in the Second World War. So I have a great connection with the Patricia's and it is both professional—I admire them enormously professionally—and it's also very personal.

Host: Now Madame Clarkson, have you been in touch with anyone at the Canadian Forces at that base in Wainwright?

Adrienne Clarkson: I talk with our David Fraser, who is the person that is my official liaison, and I talk to him always because he's always on top of everything. And so he has told me everything that I need to know at this point. I will know more as things develop. And of course, we were all caught by a horrible surprise with that wind and that fire. And of course, it brought to me my memories of being in Wainwright over the years. And I have a picture in my other room of myself with the soldiers in Wainwright. So I have a very fond memory of Wainwright.

Host: What does something like this mean for Canada when we talk about a tragedy like this?

Adrienne Clarkson: Well, I think it's two things. One is it's mourning officially for people who are willing to give their lives for their country. The fact that they were on a training exercise, that they were caught—and we don't know the details, but it seems that they were caught in what would be a prairie brush fire that just took off with the wind. And I think it's important that we think how much of the lives of our armed forces are given in a selfless kind of way. They know that they are defending us.

And the Patricia's motto is "first in the field." They always have been first in the field. They were founded by Hamilton Gault, a wonderful Montreal businessman who put out a call, and several weeks people came from all over the country to be first in the field in the Princess Patricia's. And Princess Patricia herself, the daughter of the Governor General, the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, sewed their battle colors and they went into the field with them. It's all a very kind of romantic and historic occasion.

And then, of course, a dollar bill was founded in her name, and I have that dollar bill framed in my office here. And she was a wonderful watercolorist, and while her father was the Governor General, she did a lot of watercolors of the area around Ottawa of the house, and we used them for menu covers when I was Governor General. So Princess Patricia is a very real person to me, and through her goddaughter Lady Patricia, I was really very happy to have that complete connection. So they've only had those very few people to be the colonels-in-chief, and I'm very happy to be that today.

Host: Now, Madame Clarkson, unfortunately, you're not a stranger to tragedy. In April 2002, while you were Governor General, a group of Canadian soldiers were killed during an accidental friendly fire in Afghanistan. How do you comfort a nation during a time of tragedy like this?

Adrienne Clarkson: Well, first of all, you have to say that this is not in vain. You have to say that these people have signed up to put their lives on the line to save others. The fact that our people were in friendly fire on that particular occasion in the early 2000s was a tragedy and a mistake, and everybody realized that.

And I will always remember going into the Hercules in Germany. I flew to Germany and walked into the Hercules plane and saw our people who had survived. And then the next day I saw them at the hospital in Ramstein and held their hands and brought them lots of magazines and things that they would enjoy, and have basically seen some of them who joined up again even though they had been injured at that time. And it showed to me their devotion and their ability to recover, their ability to understand that what they do is not just for the moment, but it's forever. They don't have the words for that, nor do we worry about whether they have the words for that. All we think of is that they are doing it for us and in our place.

Host: Now, the role of a Governor General is mostly ceremonial, and I'm hoping you can help us understand for our viewers and listeners, when tragedy hits like this, what is the role of the Governor General?

Adrienne Clarkson: I think when you say ceremonial, you make it sound as though it were arms length, or it was in another place, or it was far away, or you never come in contact with it. That's not the case at all.

My fondest memories are of going into that Hercules and seeing our wounded, and then the next day going to the hospital in Ramstein and touching their arms and being able to speak to them. And always that personal, direct contact is what I think a colonel-in-chief has to do. And certainly the Governor General, as the Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces, should be prepared to always do that.

I'm very well prepared for it because my father has the Military Medal from Hong Kong. He was a Chinese who worked for the British and was a dispatch rider. And so I've been brought up in a military tradition. It's not to me to question whether somebody would go to war when they are attacked—that just happened. And my father was always very, very keen on that. And I gave his medals to the War Museum when he died 20 years ago.

And to me, I've been brought up with that memory and also with that understanding. And he was still alive when the friendly fire thing happened, and so he understood perfectly what it was about and I understood what it was about. I realize that soldiers, even if they don't make the ultimate sacrifice—which Aiden and Shawn and Hayden and Morgan have—they are prepared to do it.

And so there's two things: there's being prepared to do it, and then perhaps actually doing it. And I think that what we have in our forces is quite wonderful because our people are prepared for it. I'm deeply impressed by them and I treasure my role as colonel-in-chief of the Patricia's. They have a beautiful history and I love all the moments I spend with them.

Host: Madame Clarkson, we know that the devastation here is staggering, and I'm wondering, do you have anything to say to the families of those affected at CFB Wainwright?

Adrienne Clarkson: It's the most difficult thing in the world to talk to families about a loss like this, because nobody who hasn't gone through it themselves and been able to come out the other side can say, you know, "keep your heads up, tomorrow is another day, things will be different." It's hard to say that.

All you can do is hold—psychologically hold their hands, and say, you know, "if you want to cry, cry, and I'm with you." And I think one has to think of that always on the human level, on the person-to-person level. We are all brothers and sisters, and we have to act that way.

Host: Madame Clarkson, we're going to leave it there, but I want to thank you again for taking the time during these difficult moments to chat with us.

Adrienne Clarkson: I was happy to do so.