Hiding our History: Is this how we remember our Veterans?

by Dave Palmer

I am almost quite certain that you have neither heard of nor been apprised on the efforts that have been made over the past couple of years regarding attempts to bring about a new volunteer service medal: the Governor General's Volunteer Service Medal (GGVSM). It is for this reason that it is now important for someone to reach out to all Canadians, with the hope to inspire interest in this story of interest. This story has nothing to do with recent headlines about the Order of Canada and Dr. Henry Morgentaler. But, it was inspired from other media stories. I had read in the news and saw on television that yet again Canadians were being honoured with medals from other countries and I wondered why is it that Canada is so reluctant to honour its own Troops?

I had looked into what had happened to the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (CVSM) that was issued during and after World War II, and that abruptly stopped on 1 March 1947. Since that time, under the command of many Commander's-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces, thousands of young men and women have volunteered to serve our nation, yet they have gone totally unrecognized.

Presently, there are Petitions and letters of support being circulated and gaining support for the GGVSM, and these are being sent in to our government to both Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister. There is a good basis for what this proposed new medal would mean to our history, heritage and traditions and even our culture.

For the first time ever, we as a nation could issue a medal that would be representative of and also honour the position of our Governor General's as Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces. Similar to our ancestor’s CVSM, specific acts of involvement by our servicemen and servicewomen have occurred and Bars were placed on the CVSM to acknowledge this. We are missing out on recording our military history by our failure to recognize the courage and conviction of our military volunteers since March 1947. Unlike their ancestors and our forefathers and foremothers who received a Medal when they volunteered, our young volunteers are not recognized at all for that very same act, volunteering. This aspect of our heritage had been a Canadian tradition and just simply stopped in March of 1947 and it begs the question, "why?"

Why is it that Canadians have this overwhelming desire to cover-up or forget about our accomplishments? We are hindering; No we are hiding our heritage by not having a Volunteer Medal, one that would serve to re-invigorate our history as the GGVSM could as previously mentioned play a role as did the CVSM where Bars could be placed acknowledging the support of our Troops.

What Bars you might ask? Well what about a Bar for the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962? Or the Cold War from 2 March 1947- 25 December 1991? Or the Ice Storm of 1998? When our Troops, our Volunteers wear these Medals and Bars, they are able to say to others that at one time they served honourably in the service of Canada and that they also participated in actions where our government saw a need to deploy our Troops.

We could have a Bar to recognize our "First Nations-Aboriginal Troops" many important aspects of our history and culture that are simply being overlooked and forgotten. At Remembrance Day or Commemorative Parades, other Canadians that have their curiosity tweaked at the GGVSM and any accompanying Bars could learn more about our history as the wearer of the GGVSM explains what it means and what any attached Bars stand for.

We as Canadians, are proud of our Veterans and are ever mindful of the supreme sacrifices so many of them made. The re-establishment of honouring and recognizing the act of volunteering is a part of Canadian history and by failing to continue the tradition of the issuance of a Volunteer Medal is like erasing an entire era of Canadians who during the Cold War, the FLQ Crisis, the Red River Flood, Operation Hurricane, Operation Ou est le Bouef, and other events that have been a part of our history since the 2nd of March 1947 and many Canadians would not even know what any of these events are about. Significant acts of participation and support by our Troops that are slowly being forgotten and this is not how we should be remembering any Veteran.

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