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The conflict also saw Canada supporting allies whose sovereignty and very existence were threatened, Harper said, noting that the country still does the same.

“It is why today, we stand once again beside friends and allies whose sovereignty, whose territorial integrity — indeed, whose very freedoms and existence — are still at risk,” Harper said in a veiled reference to Canada’s tough stands in support of Ukraine and Israel.

“Nothing has changed. For our Canada is still loyal to our friends, unyielding to our foes, honourable in our dealings, and courageous in our undertakings. This remains the character of our country.”

Earlier Monday, Harper visited the National War Memorial near Parliament Hill, where he inspected a ceremonial guard and lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

In all, about 620,000 Canadians enlisted during the First World War and about 419,000 went overseas. About 60,000 would never come home.

“This great conflict on the other side of an ocean need not have involved us,” Harper said. “But then, as now, when our friends and the values we share with them are threatened, Canadians do not turn away.”

A century later, Harper said, the world still grapples with the dreadful toll of the conflict.

“We have had 100 years to contemplate this war,” he said.

“And yet what it means to live mired in muck and disease, to fight through mud deep enough to drown a man, to lose thousands of lives in a single day, to gain what could be measured in yards … the sense of these things eludes us still. We can only imagine their fear, their courage.”