Premier Andrew Furey hopes his legacy as premier will be the repatriation of the remains of the Unknown Soldier.

The journey of the World War I soldier’s remains from France to the National War Memorial in St. John’s was an emotional one, particularly for Furey who, as the ceremonial next-of-kin, was at the casket’s side for the most poignant parts of the trip.

Now that Furey’s time as premier is coming to a close, he says he hopes his legacy is one of “pace”; listing achievements in health care, addressing the population decline, rate mitigation, and dealing with the COVID pandemic as significant.

However, he says above all of that was the repatriation of the Unknown Soldier.

“I hope my legacy is returning one of our own home and helping close that wound from 1916,” said Furey. “I still get emotional thinking about it and talking about it, and it was … that’s a legacy piece.

“Someone said to me after it was done, ‘well, you know, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that just happened.’ My response was, ‘it’s not a once-in-a-lifetime, that’s a once-in-forever, and I was very honored to be given the privilege to do that.”