Victoria Cross fight reignited as MPs back independent honours review

A House of Commons committee unanimously passed a motion Monday calling on the Liberal government to establish an independent review board for military honours including the country’s highest battlefield decoration — the Canadian Victoria Cross.

The request is the latest step in a multi-year, grassroots effort by a number of Afghan War vets to see the case of the late Pte. Jess Larochelle reconsidered.

Almost 20 years ago, while severely wounded, LaRochelle beat back an overwhelming Taliban assault on his combat outpost. His bravery was recognized with Canada’s second-highest citation for bravery in combat — the Star of Military Valour.

The federal Senate and several provinces including Ontario, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia have passed similar motions asking for the independent panel to be established.

An online campaign led by the Facebook group Valour in the Presence of the Enemy has argued for years that Larochelle’s actions deserved to be recognized with the Canadian Victoria Cross.

Larochelle, who was in poor health following his war service, died in 2023.

Conservative MP Blake Richards, who presented the motion on Monday to the House of Commons veterans committee, said what Larochelle did on Oct 14, 2006, was an extraordinary act of bravery that deserves a second look.

“There is a lot of new information that’s come forward about his case that would indicate that perhaps he should have received the Victoria Cross,” Richards said. 

Liberal MP Pauline Rochefort, who represents Nipissing-Timiskaming, the region where Larochelle grew up, spoke in favour of the motion and has sponsored a 16,000-name petition that calls for him to be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. The petition is currently before the House of Commons. 

“It comes at a time when recent remarks by President Donald Trump, I find, risk distorting the record of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan,” Rochefort said. 

The motion and the independent panel review “provides us with the opportunity to show in a unified manner, and with equal clarity, how Canada honours its own and recognizes courage and sacrifice at the highest level.”

Canadian VC never awarded

Created in 1993, the Canadian Victoria Cross (VC) is this country’s highest military honour, but it has never been awarded.

The British VC has been presented to Canadians and other Commonwealth soldiers for extraordinary gallantry since the mid-19th century, but the last time a Canadian earned that distinction was during the Second World War.

Britain, Australia and New Zealand all awarded a handful of VCs for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States gave out a total of 28 Medals of Honor, that country’s highest battlefield decoration, for service in both of those wars.

Canada’s defence department has said throughout the years that while many courageous acts took place in Afghanistan, they were recognized with other medals such as the Star of Military Valour. It maintains that none of the cases met the “extremely rare standard” of “most conspicuous bravery” or “pre-eminent act of valour” required for the VC.

The military was pressured into reviewing 20 cases involving soldiers who received the Star of Military Valour during the Afghan War, and that examination concluded that the high bar of the VC had not been met in those instances.

Article source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/battle-honours-victoria-cross-mps-defence-9.7171143?cmp=rss