In polite but pointed comments, Langley Walk to Remember co-founder Michael Pratt issued a carefully-worded reminder that Canadians “stepped up” during the Afghanistan conflict.
Pratt, co-founder of the war memorial at Derek Doubleday Arboretum, did not directly address controversial remarks by U.S. president Donald Trump about the involvement of NATO countries, including Canada, in the Afghanistan conflict.
Trump attracted considerable criticism internationally when he suggested the NATO countries that responded to a U.S. request for support in Afghanistan avoided the front lines.
“They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that,” Trump told the Fox television network on Friday. “And they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
When Pratt, a Township of Langley councillor, was interviewed at the memorial on Saturday, he did not directly mention the American president in his comments.
“Politicians are going to say and do what they have to, but the reality and the indisputable facts are that 40,000 Canadians served in Afghanistan, 158 never came home, including two men from Langley,” Pratt told the Langley Advance Times
“Canada stepped up and Canadians stepped up when a NATO member needed us, and we’re part of NATO and we’ll do it again if we have to.”
A polite but pointed reminder by the co-founder of the Langley Afghanistan memorial to the fallen that Canadians were in fact on the front lines. pic.twitter.com/x3fp3G76Qx
— Langley Advance Times (@LangleyTimes) January 24, 2026
Master Cpl. Colin Bason, a 28-year-old reserve soldier from Aldergrove, was killed by a roadside bomb on July 4, 2007 and Private Garrett Chidley, a 21-year-old full-time soldier from Langley was killed on Dec. 30, 2010 after the armored vehicle he was driving hit an improvised explosive device.
“They were just like any other high school kid in Langley, and then they felt called to serve their country and go overseas,” Pratt observed.
Walk to Remember was created in 2012 as a result of the efforts of Pratt and his sister Elizabeth, who formed Langley Youth for the Fallen in 2011 to campaign for the memorial grove of 158 trees.
On Saturday, other visitors to the memorial condemned Trump’s remarks.
“My son was in Afghanistan,” said one person, who asked to remain anonymous. “He [Trump] can [expletive] off and die.”
“It’s disgusting,” said another, who also asked to remain anonymous.
Reaction to the Trump remarks crossed party lines and international boundaries.
Defence Minister David McGuinty said “there was no standing back. Only standing side by side, together on the front lines with our allies.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said after the 9/11 terrorist attacks Canadians “fought tooth and nail in Afghanistan over 13 years. They did so on the frontlines in the most dangerous districts. We thank them. We honour them. We remember them. Our American friends should too.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer demanded an apology from Trump, describing the remarks as “insulting” and “appalling.”
Lasting from 2001 to 2014, Canada’s involvement in the Afghanistan conflict was its longest combat deployment.
It was the only time NATO’s Article 5 has ever been used, a mutual-defence clause, that requires all member countries to come to the aid of another member.
At the height of the conflict, more than 130,000 troops from 50 NATO and partner countries were in Afghanistan.