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The Victoria Cross, Canada’s highest military honour, hasn’t been awarded to a Canadian soldier since the Second World War.
Now, a petition before the House of Commons meant to rectify that situation has reached more than 16,000 signatures.
Nipissing-Timiskaming Liberal MP Pauline Rochefort has sponsored the petition because an Afghanistan veteran from her riding, Pte. Jess Larochelle, is considered by many to be a frontrunner for the Victoria Cross.
On Oct. 14, 2006, Larochelle — originally from the small northern Ontario village of Restoule— single-handedly held off a Taliban attack while he was severely injured with a broken back and detached retina.
On that day Larochelle volunteered to man an observation post in Pashmul, west of Kandahar City.
A Taliban force equipped with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms attacked his company and killed two of Larochelle’s comrades in their initial attack. Three others were gravely wounded.
Larochelle briefly lost consciousness but managed to counter the enemy advance with a machine gun. After he ran out of ammunition he used the post’s M-72 rocket launcher and held off the enemy force of between 20 and 40 insurgents.
Larochelle had health issues following his service in Afghanistan, and died on Aug. 31, 2023.
He received the Star of Military Valour — Canada’s second highest citation for bravery in combat — during his lifetime, but was never awarded the Victoria Cross.
A total of 81 Canadians have received the Victoria Cross through acts of valour, and none have been awarded for military service since 1945.
Mike Harrison, a retired Royal Canadian Air Force captain from North Bay, is part of a group called Valour in the Presence of the Enemy that has been lobbying for that to change since 2021.
Harrison said the Victoria Cross was originally awarded by England to Commonwealth soldiers. Canada has had the ability to award the medal since 1993, but has never done so.
I know that if he had been awarded this medal in his lifetime, he would have been exceptionally proud.– Mike Harrison, retired Air Force captain
Other Allied nations awarded their highest honours for Afghanistan service, including three Victoria Crosses from Britain, four from Australia and one from New Zealand. The U.S. has also awarded the Medal of Honor — its highest military distinction — to 18 soldiers for their service in Afghanistan.
“Canada sent over 40,000 troops to Afghanistan. We had the highest casualty rate of any country that went to Afghanistan per capita,” said Harrison.
“In Afghanistan, Canadians suffered over four times the casualty rate of our American compatriots, and they issued their Medal of Honor.”
Harrison said he’s gotten to know Larochelle’s family, and had the opportunity to speak with him about his wartime service before he died.
“I know that if he had been awarded this medal in his lifetime, he would have been exceptionally proud,” he said.
Other veterans snubbed
Harrison said past Canadian soldiers in other conflicts have also been snubbed the Victoria Cross.
One notable example, he said, is Francis Pegahmagabow, a First World War sniper from Wasauksing First Nation who is credited with killing 378 German combatants and capturing an additional 300.
“He wasn’t awarded. And we believe that’s because he’s Indigenous,” said Harrison.
The House of Commons petition calls on the government to create an independent committee that would review the cases of Afghanistan veterans where there is evidence Victoria Cross criteria were met.
Rochefort, the petition’s sponsor, said it has already met the threshold needed for a government response. That will need to happen within 45 days.
The petition is the third recent attempt to overhaul how the Victoria Cross is awarded.
The NDP’s Niki Ashton put forward the first such petition, which was rejected by the Department of National Defence.
Conservative Erin O’Toole later put forward a consent motion in the House of Commons that didn’t go anywhere.
“So now we’ve had members of all three major political parties put this forward,” Harrison said.
