Victoria Cross (Canada)

Victoria Cross (Canada)

The Victoria Cross was created in 1993, perpetuating the lineage of the British Victoria Cross. It is the highest award within the Canadian honours system, taking precedence over all other orders, decorations, and medals. In Canada, the Victoria Cross can be awarded for action against armed mutineers, pirates, or other such hostile forces without war being officially declared.

About Victoria Cross (Canada) in brief

Summary Victoria Cross (Canada)The Victoria Cross was created in 1993, perpetuating the lineage of the British Victoria Cross. It is the highest award within the Canadian honours system, taking precedence over all other orders, decorations, and medals. In Canada, the Victoria Cross can be awarded for action against armed mutineers, pirates, or other such hostile forces without war being officially declared. In 1987, prime minister Brian Mulroney set up a committee to look into the creation of a Canadian Victoria Cross as part of a new series of military honours. The decoration has not been awarded since its inception. The Victoria Cross is awarded for \”the most conspicuous bravery, a daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty, in the presence of the enemy\” at any point after 1 January 1993. It may be presented posthumously, and, like its British counterpart, can not be revoked. In many other Commonwealth countries the relevant version of theVictoria Cross can only be awarded. for actions against the enemy in a wartime setting, the Canadian government has a broader definition of the term enemy. This means that the Queen-in-Council does not officially have to declare war to give acknowledgement of the existence of a hostile force that fits the official description. In the case of a daring act, a body of individuals in which all persons were deemed equally deserving of the Cross, a ballot is drawn to be drawn and one member of their own, and the private soldiers or seamen select from themselves amongst themselves.

This is included in the current warrant, which is a modification with modification of the First World War War warrant. The process of awarding the Cross may take place in two ways: one through a recommendation by the Decorations and Commendations Advisory Committee, and one through the National Defence Commendation Committee, which has one member from each of the six departments of the Canadian Armed Forces. The original Victoria Cross, created by a Royal Warrant issued on 29 January 1856 with the royal sign-manual of Queen Victoria, was intended to recognize demonstrations of gallantry during the Crimean War, regardless of either a man’s social status or his record of service. Until 1972, 81 members of the. Canadian military and 13 Canadians serving in British units had been awarded the Victoria cross. After that date, however, the Australian Victoria Cross was eliminated from the official list of honours, instigating a decades-long debate on whether or not to reinstate the decoration. In 1991 a private member’s bill received all-party support in the House of Commons, following which the VictoriaCross, along with other Canadian military valour decorations, were on 31 December 1992 formally requested by MulrONEY.