Honours of the Crown

by Michael Jackson, CVO, CD

Introduction

In April 2006 it was my privilege to co-chair with Rachele Dabraio, Director of Ontario Honours and Awards, the first-ever conference on Commonwealth Honours and Awards, co-sponsored by the honours and awards secretariats of Ontario and Saskatchewan at Government House in Regina. The conference brought home the importance of honours, the constant efforts to improve and expand them, and the great variety of honours in the Commonwealth family. This is evident in the conference Proceedings, Honouring Commonwealth Citizens, which I edited and which was published in 2007 by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.

Honours in Commonwealth states for the most part got their starting point in the British honours system, which itself goes back to the Middle Ages. In 1967 Canada was the first Commonwealth realm to create its own honours and it was so successful that it was soon imitated by Australia and New Zealand. Even the United Kingdom is now adopting some aspects of the Canadian system. Honours abound in other Commonwealth countries. The tiny Caribbean island state of Antigua & Barbuda, with a population smaller than Regina, has no fewer than four orders, two of which have five grades! Among the Queen's other realms, there are now indigenous honours in Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize and St. Lucia, although most of these countries continue to recommend a limited number of British honours as well. Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Tuvalu still use the British honours system. Commonwealth countries which are not realms of course have their own honours systems, such as Nigeria, Malta and Mauritius. South Africa has instituted several orders of high calibre.

About Honours

Everyone would agree on the desirability of recognizing people for their achievements and contributions to society. Most states in the world, as well as many organizations, do this through various forms of official recognition. Although the term "award" can apply to all of these, it is helpful to make a distinction between honours and awards.

Honours are official recognition by a country through the head of state. In a constitutional monarchy like Canada or the United Kingdom, Spain or Denmark, the Sovereign is "fount of honours". This means that honours are authorized by the Queen and awarded in her name, and that the Queen or people delegated by her present them.

The visible accoutrements of honours normally take the form of a medal, in most cases worn from a ribbon or bow on the left side of a person's jacket or dress, although in some cases suspended from a ribbon worn around the neck. These are called the insignia of the honours. There are miniatures of these medals for formal evening wear. In Canada, most honours also have lapel pins for informal wear, a practice followed by Australia and New Zealand but only just starting in the United Kingdom.

Awards, on the other hand, may be conferred by any organization. They usually take the form of lapel pins, trophies, certificates or medallions, but should preferably not be medals to be worn — and certainly not on the left side or around the neck in conjunction with official honours. Examples are sports awards, the Aboriginal Achievement Awards, the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award, and the awards of the Royal Canadian Legion — which are worn as medals but unofficially and on the right side of the jacket.

There are three kinds of official honours: orders, decorations and medals.

1. Orders are fellowships of honour, of which the recipient becomes a member. They recognize superior levels of achievement over a fairly long period of time.
2. Decorations are usually awarded for specific acts, like bravery, or for achievements of a lower level than for orders or over a shorter period of time.
3. Medals are the most widely-held honours. They are awarded for long and exemplary service or to recognize special occasions.

Orders

Many orders have several grades or classes for different levels of achievement. In the United Kingdom, France and Spain, for example, some major orders have as many as five grades. In the UK, the top two classes of some orders confer knighthoods (for men) or damehoods (for women). The most frequently-awarded grades of orders, however, are three in number: the top one is "commander" or "companion"; the middle one is usually "officer"; and the lowest one is typically called "member" (or chevalier in French). There are a number of single-grade orders. Prestigious examples are the Order of Merit, the Order of the Garter and the Order of the Thistle in Britain, the latter two conferring knighthoods. The Order of New Zealand is that country's top honour. Closer to home, all the provincial orders in Canada are single-class — except for l'Ordre national du Québec, which has three grades: grand officier, officier and chevalier.

Normally the insignia of the top grades of multi-class orders are worn by men suspended from a ribbon around the neck and by women on a bow, while the medals of the other grades are worn attached to ribbons on the left of the jacket or dress (those for women are often on bows). In orders with more than three levels, such as knighthoods, the upper ones usually entitle the person to wear a star, sash or collar in addition to a medal on a neck-ribbon.

Recipients of orders may use initials after their names, called "post-nominal letters". Examples are OC for Officer of the Order of Canada, SOM for Member of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, and LVO for Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order. Technically, orders are not "awarded" to someone. Instead, a person is admitted into membership of a society of honour. Members can be promoted in a multi-class order. The ceremony where one is admitted is called an "investiture", at which (in a realm like Canada) the Queen or her vice-regal representative presents the insignia.

Decorations

The best-known decorations in Canada are those for gallantry, like the Victoria Cross, or civilian bravery, such as the Star of Courage. But there are also Meritorious Service Decorations for military personnel and civilians and the Royal Victorian Medal for service to the Crown. Decorations, like orders, are usually conferred by the head of state at a presentation ceremony. They are worn on the left side of the jacket or dress. Decorations entitle the recipient to post-nominal letters, for example VC for the Victoria Cross, MB for the Medal of Bravery, and SVM for the Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal.

Medals

Examples in Canada are the long service medals for people like police and firefighters; military campaign medals; and anniversaries such as the Queen's Golden Jubilee or the Saskatchewan and Alberta Centennials. Medals are awarded much more widely than orders or decorations; so it is simply not possible for the head of state or that person's representative to confer most of them and the task is usually delegated to others. Medals do not come with post-nominal letters, with one exception: the Canadian Forces Decoration (CD) which, despite its name, is not a decoration at all, but a medal for twelve years of service in the Canadian Forces!

A Glimpse at the History of Honours

The story of orders goes back to the time of the Crusades and the religious orders of knighthood like the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, founded in 1113; the Knights Templar, in 1118; and the Teutonic Knights (1190). Then came the temporal or secular orders of chivalry established by the king for those of noble birth. Some of these ancient orders still exist: the Order of the Garter in England, founded in 1348, and the Order of the Elephant in Denmark, founded in 1462. Other orders of chivalry were started or revived much later: the Order of the Dannebrog in Denmark in 1671, the Order of the Thistle in Scotland in 1687, the Order of the Bath in England in 1725 (though it has much older origins), the Order of the Seraphim in Sweden in 1748, and the Order of Charles III in Spain in 1771.

The next major stage in the development in honours was the creation of "orders of merit" in the 19th century, under the impetus of the French Revolution. These orders were democratic in nature, unlike the aristocratic orders of chivalry. The model was the Legion of Honour in France (la Légion d'honneur), founded by Napoleon in 1802. This order, in five classes, was and is a great success and carries on to this day. It was the first of a number of orders in France and was widely imitated by other countries. In Britain, the Order of St. Michael & St. George, created in 1818 by King George III, primarily recognizes public service. In 1896 Queen Victoria established the Royal Victorian Order in five classes to recognize services to the Sovereign. In 1902 King Edward VII created the Order of Merit, a single-class honour rewarding eminent service in the arts and sciences or armed forces. King George V did something similar with the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1917.

In the same year he authorized the Order of the British Empire in five classes for all kinds of service. This is by far the most frequently-awarded British honour, and it is interesting to note that in historical context it is a relatively recent creation. It is also interesting that the title "dame" was introduced in this order for the first time, as the equivalent of "sir" for men. Until then, women were not generally admitted to orders.

The history of decorations and medals really began in the 19th century. Among decorations, France's Military Medal (Médaille militaire) was created by Napoleon III in 1852, and we are familiar with the Croix de Guerre awarded in the First and Second World Wars. The pre-eminent decoration for gallantry in the Commonwealth is of course the Victoria Cross, established in 1856 during the Crimean War by Queen Victoria. Other well-known British decorations are the Military Cross (MC) instituted in 1914, the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1918 and the George Cross for civilians in 1940. As for medals, British medals for campaigns and long service go back to the Battle of Waterloo in 1816. Their history in Canada begins with medals awarded for service in the Fenian raids and the Riel Rebellions. And this is a good point to look at the tortuous history of honours in Canada.

Honours in Canada before 1967

Two excellent studies of Canadian honours by Christopher McCreery were published in 2005: The Canadian Honours System (Toronto: Dundurn Press) and The Order of Canada: Its Origins, History, and Development (University of Toronto Press). The latter book itself enjoys a rare honour: a message from Her Majesty The Queen. I am indebted to Dr. McCreery for much of the information in this article.

Leaving aside the royal honours of France, Canadians were eligible to receive British or "imperial" honours — sort of and sometimes — until the creation of an indigenous Canadian honours system in 1967. The picture was complicated by "titular honours", those which come with a title like "Lord" and "Lady" or "Sir and "Dame". These are, first, hereditary peerages (which until recently included membership in the British House of Lords), then hereditary knighthoods (called baronets), and finally non-hereditary knighthoods: knights bachelor and those levels of orders which confer knighthood.

Until the First World War Canadians could receive peerages and knighthoods, some recommended to the Sovereign by the Canadian Prime Minister, others by the British government. If you wanted a peerage, it helped if you were a railway mogul. Sir George Stephen, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, was made a baron, Lord Mount Stephen, in 1891. Another CPR president, Sir Donald Smith, became Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal in 1900; and a third, Thomas Shaughnessy, was made a baron in 1916.

As for non-hereditary knighthoods, Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister, became a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1867 and was promoted to the highest level, Knight Grand Cross, in 1884. A number of other Canadians were appointed to various levels of orders, both titular and non-titular. King Edward VII seemed to be partial to those railway barons: he made Lord Mount Stephen and Lord Strathcona Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order and Lord Shaughnessy a Knight Commander! Among recipients of non-titular honours, William Lyon Mackenzie King, the future Prime Minister, became a Companion of the Order of St. Michael & St. George (CMG) in 1906. The irony, of course, was that Mackenzie King, when Prime Minister, prevented honours from being awarded and refused to wear his CMG!

The trouble came when individuals considered by the public to be unworthy were honoured with knighthoods or peerages for political reasons. A case in point was the controversial Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia, made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1915. Then in 1917 the lid blew off. British Prime Minister Lloyd George was involved in a scandal, selling peerages and knighthoods to raise funds for his party. Among them was Sir Hugh Graham, owner of the Montreal Star, a political fund-raiser, who was elevated to the peerage over the objections of the Governor General and Prime Minister Borden.

This caused a public outcry. There was an immediate stop to hereditary peerages and knighthoods for Canadians, through something called the "Nickle Resolution", proposed to the House of Commons in 1917 by a Conservative MP, William Nickle and adopted in 1918. It also stated that henceforth all other honours for Canadian would be recommended to the King by the Canadian Prime Minister. Another resolution in 1919 extended the prohibition to non-hereditary knighthoods and appeared to discourage all honours except decorations for gallantry and bravery.

The outcome was unfortunate. Prime Ministers Borden, Meighen and Mackenzie King interpreted the resolutions as a ban on British honours, and virtually none was awarded between 1919 and 1932. Between 1933 and 1935, however, Prime Minister R.B. Bennett revived the granting of honours, including 18 knighthoods. These were surprisingly progressive and non-partisan, for example, Sir Frederick Banting, the co-discoverer of insulin, and Sir Ernest Macmillan, the composer. Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and future Prime Minister Lester Pearson an Officer of the Order. Interestingly, a number of women were recognized for social and community initiatives — a rare phenomenon among honours at the time.

In 1935, Mackenzie King returned to office and that was the virtual end of honours for Canadians until 1967. But not quite, because people had to be recognized during the Second World War and the Korean conflict and only British honours were available. From 1940 to 1946 appointments were made of non-titular honours, both military and civilian; from 1950 to 1953 only military decorations were allowed. Otherwise, Canadians were simply not officially recognized for service to the nation.

The obvious solution was to establish indigenous Canadian honours. Various trial balloons had been floated. The first Governor General, Lord Monck, suggested an Order of St. Lawrence as early as 1866 — an idea which was revived by Vincent Massey in 1935 and again in 1951. He also suggested a Royal Order of Canada in 1940. But these ideas were all shot down by the federal cabinet, which thought that honours were too hot a topic to handle. In 1942 something called the Canada Medal was approved by King George VI and actually struck — but none was ever awarded!

The Canadian Honours System

The Centennial of Confederation in 1967 provided the ideal opportunity to establish a Canadian honours system. In that year the government of Lester Pearson introduced the Order of Canada, at first as a single-level order, although two medals, one for service and one for courage, were added.

A very important element of this new order was that recipients were to be recommended to the Governor General by an independent committee from nominations submitted by the public. This was in contrast with the practice in the U.K. and most other countries, where most nominations were proposed by government departments and of course in Britain by the Prime Minister as well. That of course resulted in accusations, sometimes justified, of political interference. The Order of Canada was an immediate success, thanks in part to this non-partisan selection process, in part to the calibre of the first appointments — people like Dr. Wilder Penfield, Vincent Massey, M.J. Coldwell and Maurice Richard.

The next major development was in 1972. The Order of Canada expanded to its present three levels — Companion, Officer and Member — which it should have been in the first place. The Order of Military Merit was created for the Canadian Forces, also in three grades: Commander, Officer and Member. And three decorations for civilian bravery were established: the Cross of Valour, Star of Courage and Medal of Bravery.

In the past three decades the system has expanded significantly. The Meritorious Service Decorations (Cross and Medal) were created in 1984. Following the example of Australia, decorations for military valour were introduced in 1993. A "Canadianized" Victoria Cross (which has yet to be made and awarded) was at the top, after a vigorous lobbying campaign by the Royal Canadian Legion and the Monarchist League of Canada to overcome bureaucratic resistance in Ottawa. The other decorations are the Star of Military Valour and the Medal of Military Valour.

In 2001, Ottawa created the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, a virtual replica of the Order of Military Merit, to the extent that the grades and the insignia are the same (the ribbon is different).

Exemplary service medals,for twenty years service with good conduct, began in 1983 with the launch of the Police Exemplary Service Medal. It was followed by similar medals for corrections personnel in 1984, firefighters in 1985, the coast guard in 1990, emergency medical services in 1991 and peace officers in 2004. For the Canadian Forces there is a wide range of Canadian, NATO and United Nations medals for military service and specific postings or campaigns.

A final group of medals are commemorative medals — those awarded on the occasion of major anniversaries. Until 1967 Canada shared in British medals: those for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887 and Diamond Jubilee in 1897, the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935, the Coronations of Edward VII in 1902, George V in 1911, George VI in 1937 and Elizabeth II in 1953. In 1967, Canada created its own commemorative medal for the centennial of Confederation. This was followed by the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Confederation in 1992, and the Queen's Golden Jubilee medal in 2002. We can no doubt expect a Diamond Jubilee Medal for Her Majesty in 2012 and a Canada 150 Medal in 2017!

Some Special Cases

When you look at the official precedence of Canadian orders, decorations and medals you will notice two elements which may at first seem out of place.

The first is the Royal Victorian Order, established by Queen Victoria in 1896 to recognize services to the Sovereign and Royal Family. She wanted it to be in her personal gift, not recommended in any way by politicians. (There are now four personal honours of the Sovereign: the others are the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, and the Order of Merit.) The Royal Victorian Order is listed as the fourth Canadian order, after the Orders of Canada, Military Merit, and Merit of the Police Forces. Why is this so, when we stopped accepting most British honours after 1917 and certainly after 1967?

In one sense, of course, the Royal Victorian Order is a British honour, administered from London. But in another sense it is also Canadian — and Australian and New Zealand and Jamaican, and so on — because it is conferred directly by the Queen, without government advice, as Queen of Canada, Australia, Antigua & Barbuda, etc., for service to Her Majesty in right of those countries. In 1972, the year of the first expansion of the Canadian honours system, appointments to the Royal Victorian Order resumed in Canada — and the first recipient was the legendary Esmond Butler, loyal secretary to five governors general from Vanier to Sauvé. Canada is the only Commonwealth realm to identify the Order as one of its national honours.

The other apparent anomaly is the Order of St. John, which is given precedence after the four national orders already mentioned. The modern-day Order of St. John was revived in the U.K. in the 19th century and is associated with the St. John Ambulance organization. It soon took root in Canada and Canadians were admitted to its five levels. But it too fell prey to the infamous Nickle Resolution of 1918 and was not awarded again until it was restored by Prime Minister R.B. Bennett in 1931. Today the Queen is Sovereign head of the Order in the Commonwealth; in Canada the Governor General is prior and the Lieutenant Governors and Territorial Commissioners are vice-priors. In 1990 the Order of St. John was added to the Canadian precedence of orders, decorations and medals.

Provincial Honours

Canada is unique in having honours of the provincial Crown as well as its national honours. Ontario established the first provincial honour in 1973 — the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship, soon followed by the Police and Firefighters Bravery Medals in 1975 and 1976. The Chancellery at Rideau Hall tried to discourage Ontario from taking these initiatives, and also tried to dissuade Saskatchewan from a similar course of action on a number of grounds, including the claim that provincial honours would dilute, duplicate, and diminish the prestige of, Canada's national honours.

Neither Saskatchewan nor the other provinces accepted this rationale. Québec established l'Ordre national du Québec in 1984; the Saskatchewan Order of Merit followed in 1985, the Order of Ontario in 1986 and the Order of British Columbia in 1989. All ten provinces now have orders and half of them — Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Newfoundland & Labrador — have decorations and medals as well.

Why did this happen, when nothing similar occurred in Australia, that other Commonwealth federal monarchy? Two factors seem to have come into play:

• Until 1990, the Australian States recommended people to the Sovereign for imperial honours such as the Order of the British Empire. Since the States had this outlet for recognizing their citizens, it is likely that this mitigated any pressure for establishing their own honours.
• More significantly, the Australian States were directly involved in the Order of Australia from its creation in 1975. All eight states and territories have representatives on the Council of the Order of Australia. Furthermore the Governor General has delegated to the State governors the power to present all honours except the Companion level of the Order of Australia.

Contrast this with the Canada, where the provinces were from the outset excluded by Ottawa from any direct part in the honours system. It is therefore hardly surprising that provincial honours came into being. The very success of the Order of Canada and the other national honours stimulated an interest by the provinces in recognizing deserving people in their own jurisdictions.

To summarize the case for provincial honours:

• As co-sovereign jurisdictions in Confederation, with their own representatives of the Queen, the provinces have every right to issue official honours of the provincial Crown. By the same token their honours insignia may bear the Crown and be presented by the Lieutenant Governor.
• While the Queen has not specifically authorized provincial honours, legislation or orders-in-council in her name have had the same effect.
• Far from diluting, duplicating or diminishing the prestige of Canada's national honours, provincial honours complement and enhance them by making Canadians more aware of, interested in and respectful of honours of the Crown.

In our view, this is exactly what has happened over the past thirty years and the fears of Rideau Hall have been misplaced. Let me cite examples from the Saskatchewan experience.

• The Saskatchewan Order of Merit has gained respect for its recognition of excellence in all fields of endeavour.
• The Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal (established in 1995, a year before the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award!) has achieved its goal of prestigious recognition of the volunteer sector.
• The Saskatchewan Protective Services Medal, launched in 2003, has not only been enthusiastically received by the protective agencies (such as police, fire, corrections, ambulance, Canadian Forces) but has reinforced the appreciation of the wider community for the work done by the members of those agencies. In the case of peace officers other than police, it preceded the Canadian exemplary service medal by two years!
• The Saskatchewan Centennial Medal has proven in some ways to be the most influential of Saskatchewan's honours. With 4,200 recipients ranging from the Governor General to local volunteers, and more than 80 presentation events across the province over an eighteen-month period in 2005-2006, this program brought honours into the community in a way that no other could. It was conceived partly as an opportunity to educate the wider public about honours — and this is exactly what happened.

The end result is that Saskatchewan people are far more aware of all honours, national ones included — and the role of the Crown in honours — than they were 25 years ago. This is largely due to the success of the provincial honours program. Monarchists should be pleased that the provincial honours have (with the exception of Quebec) raised the profile of the Crown and the Lieutenant Governors.

Provincial honours are a reality in Canada. They are here to stay. Rideau Hall has had to come to terms with them. It did so, first in 1991 by granting status to provincial orders in the national precedence of orders, decorations and medals and then in 1998, when this was extended this to some other honours such as the Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal.

The Commonwealth Honours Conference: Suggestions for Change

The conference on Commonwealth honours and awards in Regina in April 2006 brought together experts and practitioners from Rideau Hall, National Defence, Canadian Heritage, six provinces (all except the Atlantic provinces), the United Kingdom, South Africa, Antigua and Barbuda, and, by proxy, Australia and New Zealand. A summary of the conference, in the form of an edited version of my introduction to its Proceedings, appears elsewhere in this issue of CMN. Out of the many topics discussed and recommendations offered, some are of particular interest to Canada.

One issue is that Canada lacks a prestigious way of honouring the country's very best. The Order of Canada, with only three classes, cannot fully achieve this. Suggestions from experts such as Christopher McCreery are either to add two higher levels to the Order of Canada, analogous to the knighthood levels of British order but not conferring titles; or to create a new single-class order with restricted membership like the Order of New Zealand and the (U.K.) Order of Merit or Order of the Companions of Honour. There are a couple of other anomalies with the Order of Canada. In 1998 all three levels of the Order were placed ahead of the top levels of other orders (like the Order of Military Merit and the Royal Victorian Order), which means, for example, that a Member of the Order of Canada outranks a Commander of the Order of Military Merit (like the Chief of the Defence Staff!). This is totally contrary to international practice; it can and should be reversed. I would add that the insignia of the middle level, the Officer of the Order of Canada, is worn (by men) on a neck-ribbon, which international practice reserves to the top level of orders.

Christopher McCreery questions the need for a separate order for the police forces, as this may lead to a proliferation of orders for different occupations; he proposes instead a single order of merit with military and civilian divisions. He points out that the Meritorious Service Decorations are under-used — far more of them should be awarded. He also notes that Canada is one of the rare countries not have an order for the public service or a polar medal. Like me, he wants to see the Royal Victorian Order awarded, as it used to be, for all forms of service to the Sovereign and not just for organizing royal visits as is now usually the case. He suggests that the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award be changed from a mere lapel pin into an honour. That, of course, is what Saskatchewan did with our Volunteer Medal in 1995! He also points out the deterioration in the quality of both publications and medals of the national honours system. They pale by comparison with those of countries like South Africa and Antigua & Barbuda and, in our own country, of Québec.

Dr. McCreery notes that Alberta, British Columbia and women are under-represented in the membership of the Order of Canada and that its advisory council is too concentrated in central Canada. Furthermore, it is my own view that we need to coordinate federal and provincial honours, agree on standards, exchange information, and facilitate the work of all jurisdictions to minimize duplication and overlapping. So far Ottawa, due no doubt to its reservations about provincial honours, has abdicated responsibility for this, leaving it to Ontario and Saskatchewan to pick up the ball, as we did at a national conference in 2000 and the Commonwealth sequel in 2006.

Next, as I'm sure all monarchists would agree, we should reverse the long-standing practice of minimizing the Queen's role in the Canadian honours system. Her Majesty is fount of honours and Sovereign of the four national orders — but you wouldn't know it from the attitude and publicity of Rideau Hall. Let me quote in this respect Christopher McCreery:

Her Majesty The Queen has not conducted an investiture in Canada since 1973, when a mixed investiture of the Order of Canada, Order of Military Merit and Bravery Decorations was held. The Queen's role as fount of honours is rarely mentioned. Despite the many opportunities since 1973 for the Queen to preside over an investiture there have been no such events.

Since 1973 the only investitures to be held by the Queen were to invest newly appointed governors general with the Order of Canada, Order of Military Merit and, most recently, the Order of Merit of the Police Forces. Even this, the first and oldest tradition of the Order of Canada, has now been done away with. This occurred when Governor General Clarkson presented the insignia to her successor, Madame Jean, in a rather bizarre turn of events.

Rideau Hall has consistently opposed conferring Canadian honours on members of the Royal Family, whereas Australia and New Zealand have not hesitated to do so. Yes, the Queen Mother was made an honorary Companion of the Order of Canada in the year of her 100th birthday, but she should have received it long before — and it should not have been honorary membership, which is meant for non-Canadians. The only other Canadian honour given to Royal Family members has been the Canadian Forces Decoration to those who are colonels-in-chief of Canadian regiments — but even people like me receive the CD for 12 years of service in the Canadian Forces!

Only one Canadian jurisdiction has properly honoured members of our Royal Family. Which one? Saskatchewan, of course! The Prince of Wales was invested as the first honorary member of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2001 and the Earl of Wessex as the second in 2006. The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Princess Royal, Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex have received the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal. Furthermore, during the Queen's centennial visit in 2005, her Private Secretary, Sir Robin Janvrin, and several other members of the Royal Household and staff received the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal at a special ceremony in Regina. These loyal servants of our Queen have not been properly recognized in Canada. We decided to do something about it.

Honours are one of the most significant instruments of the Crown. They recognize our best. They deserve to be of top quality. And they should demonstrate our pride in our constitutional monarchy and in Her Majesty The Queen, who is the source of all our Canadian honours.