Dear Anthony,
Apologies for the delay in contacting you, but the reason has mostly been that we've been so busy handing out copies of your documentary and talking to people about it, so I hope you can excuse me!
Thank you so very much again for letting us host this screening, we have had very positive reviews from everyone who attended and very sincere regrets from the people who were not able to make it.
Kind regards,
Rachelle DuBois
Director of Policy | Directrice des Politiques
Office of Anita Vandenbeld, Member of Parliament for Ottawa West-Nepean
Bureau de la Députée Anita Vandenbeld, Députée d'Ottawa-Ouest-Nepean
So, why then after 32 years have the Gulf War veterans (Operation Friction ended Feb, 1991 specifically) not been recognized as having wartime service? They are members of the military sent to a combat area performing combat duties during a war, although war was not declared. The last phrase is irrelevant. Precedents have been set.
This was the purpose of the screening of a documentary “Canada Remembers Our Heroes: Operation Friction” on Tuesday evening, the 16th May, 2023. MP John Brassard has been helping the Persian Gulf Veterans of Canada (PWVC) get a petition signed and pushed through Parliament to get their service recognized as wartime service. Helping him has been a non-partisan group of Parliamentarians such as Senator Rebecca Patterson (ret’d RAdm and Gulf War veteran herself), MP Anita Vandenbeld, MP Luc Desilets, and MP Alistair MacGregor. MP Vandenbeld hosted the evening which many Parliamentarians attended with the purpose being to show what the Gulf War veterans did during their service in Operation Friction and how it was no different than any combat in any other theatre at any other time. this documentary can get a wide enough audience within Parliament and educate and influence enough people, then it should require a smaller effort to get the Gulf War service recognized as wartime service.
There were actually only a couple speakers before the documentary was shown with the most influential being the Ambassador to Canada of the State of Kuwait (H.E. Reem Alkhaled) who, as a young woman, was in Kuwait when Iraq invaded. She spoke to her experiences of that time and the gratitude of all Kuwaitis to the coalition forces and Canada specifically for her. She has conferred Kuwait Liberation Medals on many Canadian Gulf War Veterans and has plans for more because, as she said, Kuwait recognizes the service of Canadian veterans.
After the presentation, the hosting Parliamentarians spoke stating their support and need for this initiative to recognize Gulf War service as wartime service. And while their words are heartfelt and genuine, it was the words of the veterans themselves that held more sway. As they spoke individually, there seemed to be a common theme, unspoken but looming in the background and that was that they were fiercely proud of their service yet felt unnoticed, not remembered, and not appreciated for their sacrifices. There were no victory parades welcoming them home, there are no remembrance days just for them. It actually reminded me of Viet Nam vets when they came home and were jeered and abused rather than supported. That’s not to say Canadians have gone to those extremes, but if many veterans feel that way, then it’s not a one-of situation but the symptom of a wider phenomenon that needs to be addressed.
One simple way to help address this is to recognize their time in the Persian Gulf as wartime service. MP Brassard has introduced the petition on behalf of the PGVC before but the Parliament was dissolved for an election and it died. Not deterred, MP Brassard is taking another run at it with this Parliament and this petition, officially e-4399 (Veterans’ Affairs) at https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4399 , is still looking for signatures. If you think that you would like to support this initiative, please electronically support this petition before 28 May, 2023, when it closes.
Special thanks to MP Anita Vandenbeld for hosting the documentary screening at the Valour Building as well as all the other veterans groups that support this initiative such as ANAVETS, CAVUNP, CPVA, and the Korean War Veterans – Unit 7.
Anthony J. Towstego
