Canadian Comrades with Boinas

National Monument to the "Mac Paps" in Ottawa

Over the last 10, 15 years, we have seen a lot of commemorations in honour of the International Brigaders, who fought in Spain against Franco, Hitler and Mussolini.

Why it had to take so many decades to get to the insight that some acknowledgment of their tribute to anti-fascism was appropriate, I don't know. Much too late for many, of course, but still in time to be attended by a few surviving veterans.

Here are pictures of Maurice Constant and Arne Knudsen, members of the Canadian MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion of the International Brigades, during the unveiling of the Mac Pap Monument on 20 October, 2001 in Ottawa.