The Canadian Victoria Cross

Canada mints its own Victoria Cross in time for Victoria Day Weekend.

Gov.-Gen. Michaelle Jean, along with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, unveiled the Canadian Victoria Cross at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday, May 16, 2008. The unveiling means the Canadian system of military honours is now entirely our own, said military historian Jack Granatstein.

"It takes the last of the military honours that we offer out of British hands," said Granatstein earlier this week. "The difference now is that the Victoria Cross would be minted for the Canadian government and given out wholly by the Canadian government. In other words, we wouldn't take one from the British stockpile and have the Queen award it."

Memo to Mr. Granatstein: My boy Jack, why pray tell us, would you not want the Queen of Canada to award it? The Canadian version of the Victoria Cross will still be issued under the Queen's Warrant!

The Canadian Victoria Cross is very similar to its British predecessor - a bronze cross suspended from a crimson ribbon bearing a lion and crown insignia - with the addition of a fleur-de-lis and the English motto "For Valour" changed to the Latin, "Pro Valore." The cross is created using a mix of three metals - gunmetal, also used in the production of the British version, bronze from a Confederation medallion commissioned in 1867, and other naturally occurring metals from across Canada.

The original Victoria Cross was created by Queen Victoria in 1856 following the Crimean War and was awarded for "gallantry in the presence of the enemy." A total of 1,356 VCs have been awarded, with 94 Canadians receiving the honour. The last Canadian to garner the prize was navy pilot Hampton Gray in 1945. All of the Canadian recipients are now deceased.

The Victoria Cross is the highest Canadian honour that can be bestowed upon a person of any rank or civilians under military command, even outranking the Order of Canada. As a result, the cross is rarely awarded. Only three have been given out in the past 20 years, one to a British soldier, one to a Grenadian and one to a New Zealander, all for saving other members of the forces while under fire.

The first Canadian to be awarded the medal will join a "legendary" group of individuals, said Harper. "Every day in military missions at home and abroad, Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen are putting their lives on the line for us," he said. "We rarely hear about their every day heroics but someday, somewhere, these men and women will do something so brave, so gallant, so exceptional that we will hear about it."