Thank you, Madam Chair.
I appreciate this opportunity to speak today.
I'm here as an individual, not in my role as private secretary to the Honourable Mike Savage, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, or as a Nova Scotian public servant.
My doctorate focused on the development of the Canadian honours system, and I've spent the last 30 years researching and writing about the origins, history and development of our honours policy and the system overall.
I've published 10 books related to Canadian honours and served as adviser to the Privy Council Office, the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, Britain's Cabinet Office and numerous provinces.
Understandably, I have followed the progress of your bill with great interest, not just as it relates to the honours system but because a very dear friend of mine, Laurie Anderson, was the recipient of a heart transplant a number of years ago. Through her experience, I've gained at least a peripheral understanding of the importance of organ and tissue donation to the well-being of our fellow Canadians. I've seen it first-hand.
The goal of encouraging greater public knowledge of the importance of donation and the desire to increase such gifts is laudable. No one can argue with the encouragement of exemplary citizenship through blood and tissue donation. That said, the concept of creating a national honour to recognize blood and tissue donation does not fit into any part of the existing Canadian honours system.
At present, there are only a handful of countries with a specific honour that recognizes blood or tissue donations, notably the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Monaco and Luxembourg. Héma-Québec and Canadian Blood Services each have extensive donor reward programs, while St. John Ambulance in Canada has a national organ donor recognition award that is given to both living and deceased donors. None of our Commonwealth cousins, with whom we share so much of our honours traditions, nor France, another country from which we inherit significant elements of our honours system, has blood or tissue donor medals.
Nevertheless, reading your deliberations and sensing the unanimity among honourable members, it seems inevitable that this bill will pass and will be sent off to the Senate in short order, so I will limit my remaining comments to how you can improve the bill.
I will start with what I think is the most difficult and objectionable aspect of the bill. The inclusion of post-nominals with the proposed medal is highly problematic. Post-nominals have hitherto been reserved for orders and decorations, such honours as the Order of Canada, the Star of Courage and the Order of Military Merit, to name but a few. They have never been associated with a medal for service or volunteerism.
The inclusion of post-nominals for this medal will be highly offensive to some veterans and current members of the Canadian Armed Forces, notably those members of the CAF who were awarded the Sacrifice Medal. The Sacrifice Medal is awarded to CAF members who have served in war or combat-like situations, such as Afghanistan, where Canadians were killed or physically maimed, lost limbs or were mentally affected with PTSD. In recognition of their service, sacrifice and suffering, they were awarded the Sacrifice Medal, which is a medal with no post-nominals. These are people who answered what I would say is the highest call the country can ask of its citizens. You cannot compare voluntary blood donation or tissue donation with the loss of life or limb or permanent mental health issues caused by military service, so the provision to include post-nominals should be stripped.
There are also other elements of the bill that are incongruous with our existing honours system. With reference to clause 3, Canadian honours are normally established by letters patent under the Great Seal of Canada and approved by the Sovereign, as the Crown has been the font of all honours since the time of New France and Acadia.
The administration of honours is usually done by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, with no minister responsible for individual programs. The Prime Minister has responsibility for overall honours policy at the highest level but does not select recipients or become involved in the administration of honours. It should be left to the Governor in Council to set the criteria for the medal, and it should not be embedded in this act.
It is highly unusual for ministers of the Crown to be involved in the setting of criteria for national honours. Indeed, when our entire honours system was set in place in 1967, it was set up to be placed at arm's length from such involvement.
With reference to subclause 6(1), the medal should not be awarded by the Governor in Council—that is, it should not be awarded on the advice of ministers of the Crown. It should be conferred by an instrument signed by the Governor General, as is the case for all other honours. This was the precedent set by Lester Pearson when he was prime minister. He wanted to insulate the nomination and honours process from partisan involvement or the perception of it.
Subclause 6(3) excludes MPs and senators from receiving the medal. Again, the only honour we have that excludes such people is the Order of Canada. You are eligible for every other honour in the system. There is no reason to exclude you from being eligible for this if you're a donor.
Clause 7, which mandates public ceremonies, should be removed. No national honour in Canada mandates public ceremonies. Many people wish to receive their honours privately. Having the medal presented by MPs and senators could also be problematic, in the sense that it could be seen as a partisan gift. I know many of you recently presented the coronation medal, but that's a medal for which you had direct nominations.
Clauses 10 and 11, where you're mandating reports, is again already covered off by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General through its Treasury Board-mandated annual reports.
To me, the simplest way forward would be to change the regulations related to the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers, create a separate ribbon and have that awarded for voluntary blood and tissue donation.
