Liberation75 commemorative planting campaign

Students, veterans, teachers, and members of the community gathered together at Massey-Vanier High School on Wednesday for a tulip planting ceremony in honour of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands with the help of Canadian soldiers during World War Two. Students from Massey-Vanier’s CASP Challenges class, a class for students with special needs, took the time to speak to those in attendance about the Liberation75 campaign and invited attendees to plant their own tulip bulbs in the gardens located just outside the entrance of the high school. Many may wonder, how did all of this get started? And why tulips? Well, it all began when the Germans began their attack on the Netherlands and Canadian soldiers were given the task of liberating the country from German occupation. Citizens of the Netherlands were desperate and needed food and relief. “Since the roads were always blocked off the Canadians airdropped food to citizens of the Netherlands,” explained Gloria Robinson, a teacher of CASP, “and to thank them they wrote Thank you Canadians on their roof.” See full story in the Thursday, Nov. 7 edition of The Record.