We became aware of that because people were phoning the office asking why we weren't on the list of participating organizations. When I looked at the list, we weren't there.
To start with, in our view, that exclusion was a public humiliation. When we asked about who and why, the standard answer was that the federal government had determined the list. In our view, we were publicly omitted by the federal government from participating in the King Charles medal program.
Our veterans feel that the decision to exclude the CAV was without cause or reason. They also believe it was contrary to the right to being treated fairly, with respect and dignity.
The CAV's exclusion also severs the indigenous veterans' long connection with the Crown. In our view, we have 212 years of connection with the Crown. We're very sensitive to anything that's an abuse of that connection, which is very important to us. Those were the things.
I contacted a number of people and received letters back and forth. It always ended in the same thing: The federal government had determined the list, and the list was set at 30,000 medals to be cast. We suggested, first, to respect that and not change any of those mandates. We requested a letter of introduction to the mint here in Ottawa. We would pay for our own veterans medals, to quell the groundswell that was developing of people wanting to know. We don't want roadblocks and things going up. We're trying to avoid that kind of thing.
Anyway, we haven't received anything, other than the fact that the program's running for a year.