Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C-334 which if passed will allow relatives to wear a deceased veteran's medal on Remembrance Day on the right side of the chest. On the surface this would seem like a reasonable idea. But if we scratch the surface, we will see why, for reasons of history and tradition, of practice and principle, this bill is not a good idea. Let me start with history and tradition.
Gallantry and war service medals are personal honours. They are intended only for those who earn them by virtue of their service or their action on the battlefield. It is a tradition based in law, a law whose original proponent was the great War Veterans Association which was the Royal Canadian Legion's predecessor organization. It is a tradition that dates back to 1920.
Most veterans then and most veterans now oppose the idea of someone else wearing their medals. They quite rightly feel that for someone else to wear their medals constitutes both a misrepresentation of fact and a misappropriation of the honour.
These feelings are very strongly held, both by veterans themselves and their representative associations, including the Royal Canadian Legion, the National Council of Veterans Associations in Canada, and the army, navy and air force veterans in Canada.
Surely, if we are to listen to anyone's wishes on the matter we must take our primary guidance from the men and women who were awarded the medals in the first place by virtue of their devotion to duty, their sacrifice and their courage.
I think it is fair to say that the vast majority of the public, when they see veterans walking in Remembrance Day parades, assume that the wearers are those who earned them. They would be right. However, if this bill were to pass that assumption would go out the window. No one would know during the parade who was wearing what medal or for what reason.
It is true that the bill calls for the relatives to wear the medals on the right side of the chest, while the legitimate recipient of the medals, the veterans, wear them on the left. Such a distinction would be lost on many.
I might add that the bill does not even define what constitutes a relative. Presumably its provisions are primarily targeted at children and grandchildren of deceased veterans. What about stepchildren if they have not been legally adopted? What about half sisters and brothers? What about nephews and nieces? What about cousins?
One can easily see in the years to come how these medals might be inherited by design or happenstance by relatives who are very far removed in their family relationship to the veterans who earned them. Would they claim the right to wear them also? How diminished would their symbolic value be when there is no personal claim to the service they represent?
Every November 11 we see veterans marching proudly, their medals polished brightly on their blazer lapels. We who watch them applaud them as they go by in admiration and respect for their deeds. With the passage of Bill C-334 it would be entirely conceivable, especially with the passage of years, that we would be applauding people wearing medals they neither earned nor deserved. We could not even be sure they were being worn by a veteran's relative.
Once we let the genie out of the bottle we could never put it back in. The guarantee of proper comportment would be gone forever.
Heroism, sacrifice and service are not transferable characteristics to be worn from one generation to the next. They are the result of specific actions, and each of us must earn whatever distinctions that come our way by our own actions.
What would be passed on are the medals themselves. They should be passed on. They should be kept in the family or the community, proudly displayed or framed, perhaps alongside a picture of a veteran, as many families today have chosen to do. They just cannot be worn, and should not be worn, by anyone other than those who have actually received them for service to their country.
I can appreciate the sentiment that was expressed by the sponsor of Bill C-334 and some of his constituents. I can also appreciate a concern, as our war veterans dwindle in numbers, that somehow allowing relatives to wear the deceased veterans' medals on Remembrance Day would fill the void. I believe this would not be the case, nor is it the point of our opposition to Bill C-334.
Further, I would suggest that there remain many ways of honouring a veteran's memory other than wearing his or her medals. As I have already indicated, their appropriate display at home or even in local museums or community centres would be a valuable contribution to their remembrance. Even better, why not participate in acts of community good in the name of the veteran's memory and participate in or organize events for Veterans' Week each year.
I would suggest that the very best way to keep the memory of our veterans alive is to tell their stories to our children and grandchildren. That is all they have ever asked of us: to remember what they did for us so long ago and what members of the current forces do for us today. To fulfil that promise would do far more to honour their memory than appropriating their medals one day each year.
For all of these reasons, and despite the good intentions that may lie behind this proposition, the Government of Canada cannot support Bill C-334.