“Tens of thousands of Canadians and five provinces support my petition to review military medals. The government now supports creating an independent board to review these files. This board will see if some Afghanistan veterans should get the Victoria Cross.”

“Mr. Speaker, on April 15, I had the honour of presenting petition e-6661 to the House of Commons. Since then, nearly 65,000 letters of support have been received, adding to the tremendous backing reflected in the petition. In addition, unanimous motions of support have been adopted by the provincial governments of Alberta and New Brunswick, joining similar motions previously passed in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Together, these provinces represent nearly 60% of Canada’s population. I would like to thank all those who have expressed their support, including the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs and the Senate of Canada. In this context, it was encouraging to hear the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence state on Friday that the government supports “the establishment of an independent military honours review board”. This board will re-examine the files of deserving Afghanistan veterans when new evidence suggests they meet the criteria for the Victoria Cross. I would like to thank everyone who supported this petition.”