Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to discuss private member's Motion No. 75.
I congratulate the hon. member for Kamloops on his efforts in bringing this important matter before the House. He like many hon. members understands that Canadian veterans of the Spanish civil war have not received the recognition they deserve.
Many of those brave men fought and died in defence of a democratically elected government. A great many of the 1,300 Canadians who went to fight for republican Spain between 1936 and 1939 did not live to see their Canadian homeland again.
Members of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion were the first Canadians to take up arms against the fascist forces of Hitler and Mussolini. It appears in hindsight that they knew what others only suspected, that 1930s Europe was being pushed closer and closer to a full scale war by the spread of fascism in general and Nazism in particular.
However, having said all this, I feel obligated to oppose Motion No. 75. My reasons for this are simple and straightforward. The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion was not a recognized unit of the Canadian Armed Forces. Its soldiers were not authorized members of a Canadian fighting force. The Mac-Paps, as they came to be known, fought in Spain against the express wishes of the Canadian government which took a neutral position early in the Spanish civil war along with Britain, France and the United States.
I therefore find unacceptable the hon. member's assertion that we should retroactively make the Mackenzie-Papineau veterans members of the Canadian Armed Forces. I am not alone in holding this position. Previous committees and subcommittees of the House of Commons have expressed similar views. So too has the Royal Canadian Legion.
It is not that I do not value the sentiments of the hon. member for Kamloops. On the contrary, I welcome any and all dialogue concerning ways this country can recognize Canadian veterans of the Spanish civil war. However, in Motion No. 75 there seems to be a leap in logic.
The hon. member will know that in addition to the many Canadians who fought on the republican side in Spain, a handful of Canadians also took up arms in the name of Dictator Franco. Would the hon. member for Kamloops suggest that these men as well who fought to re-establish fascism in Spain should be recognized as veterans? Would the hon. member say that these men and their widows should receive veterans benefits? I think not.
I think the hon. member realizes that what he is asking for is both illogical and untenable. Canadians have at times chosen to go off on their own and fight in various wars, conflicts and uprisings. This is true today and it will, no doubt, continue to be true in the future.
Some Canadians volunteer their military services for money, others do so out of ideological conviction, but never have Canadian mercenaries and freedom fighters asked to be designated veterans, nor will they unless the hon. member's motion is granted.
This is not to pass judgment on the role of the Mac-Paps in the Spanish civil war. It is simply to say that we cannot and should not rewrite history.
My colleague, the hon. member for Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, brought to the attention of the House last hour the similar findings of the standing committee on veterans affairs.
That committee stated a decade ago that its decision not to grant veteran status to the Mac-Paps was “without regard to the rights or wrongs of the actions of those Canadians who are veterans of the Spanish civil war”.
This cuts right to the heart of the matter. The member for Kamloops is proposing that the political correctness of the Mac-Paps cause should qualify them for veteran status.
Similarly, the member for Chateauguay questioned why Canadians who served in a politically incorrect war like Vietnam should be considered veterans when the Mac-Paps are not.
What both members seem to forget is that Canada recognizes as its veterans only those who serve Canada or its allies in a war in which Canada was a combatant.
The Mac-Paps did not meet this criterion in 1936 and they do not meet it now. However valiant they may have been in their defence of Spanish democracy, the members of the MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion fought as civilians in the eyes of the Canadian government.
It matters not that they are now only few in number or that it would not involve significant sums of money should this motion succeed. In my mind there is nothing that would justify changing this situation 60 years after the fact.
There are, however, compelling reasons to honour the Mac-Paps in other ways. The member for Kamloops mentioned in his speech that a memorial was erected recently at Queen's Park and that similar plans are under way in Vancouver.
It is my belief that many members of this House would be more than happy to support some kind of federal initiative that would not only preserve but promote the proud history of the Mac-Paps. I will not endorse the politically motivated revision of history that is called for in Motion No. 75.
In closing, I oppose the motion before the House but would like to commend the hon. member for Kamloops for his efforts to increase public awareness of Canadian involvement in the Spanish civil war.