Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Hopefully, you can hear me.

Good afternoon, distinguished members of ACVA.

I'm here to support the attempts of the president and vice-president of the Persian Gulf Veterans of Canada to have the Government of Canada acknowledge that the Gulf War from 1990 to 1991 was indeed a war, and that they and all veteran participants in that war are war veterans.

I was shocked that at a previous session of your committee an assistant deputy minister of Veterans Affairs declared that the Canadian government does not define the Gulf War of 1990-91 as a war. The committee member who asked the question replied that the committee could therefore pack up and dispose of the issue. I believe he needed to ask “Why?” in order to understand the government's position.

In response, I'd be happy to elaborate on why it should be termed a war and to provide answers to your policy questions, which arose in previous sessions. I can provide the naval operations information as the commander of the naval forces and the allied combat logistics force formed during the war. I'm delighted that Admiral Summers is there in person, as he was the joint force commander. Between us, we should be able to answer all your policy questions.

In 1990, the Canadian government authorized the navy to send three warships to the gulf area to participate in the war. Initially, we were authorized to conduct interdiction operations in the Gulf of Oman. Post-January 1991, we were authorized to operate in the central gulf area. During this time, the United States commander asked if we would escort the United States' ship Princeton out of a known sea minefield, which had damaged the ship off Kuwait. We were not authorized at that time to cross north of the latitude where the ship was positioned, and I called Admiral Summers to explain the situation and say that the ship Athabaskan was well prepared to proceed. As I understand it, he received a reply from the Prime Minister within hours to authorize the deployment, which was ultimately successful.

In addition, during the war, we were authorized to proceed off Kuwait under burning oil well smoke to protect the United States' hospital ship Mercy against missile attack. We experienced being within kilometres of an anti-ship missile attack on the British destroyer HMS Gloucester, and we were overflown by several Scuds fired in the vicinity of Admiral Summers' headquarters in Bahrain. We were always prepared to evacuate him and his staff if necessary.

There's no doubt in my mind that we were in a war: 150 Americans and 37 British soldiers died in the war, and countless were injured. A number of Canadians have suffered and still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of being in the war, with all of the stresses that entails.

As for whether it was defined as a war, several bodies declared it as such, including the United States, the United Nations, Google, Wikipedia, and Encyclopædia Britannica. Even the Veterans Affairs Canada website has as its title “Gulf War 1990-1991”.

The Canadian government issued the Gulf and Kuwait Medal for all those who participated in the war. This medal is authorized by the government as the third-highest war medal in the Canadian honours system. The ships Athabaskan, Terra Nova and Protecteur, as well as 423 Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron and 439 Tactical Fighter Squadron, were awarded battle honours by the government. Battle honours are awarded for combat in a war.

The Canadian Armed Forces defined the Gulf War as a war. General John de Chastelain, chief of the defence staff at the time, wrote the introduction for the book I co-authored with Sharon Hobson on the Canadian naval operations during the war, entitled The Persian Excursion: The Canadian Navy in the Gulf War. His first line was, “The Gulf War was the first time since the Second World War that a Canadian Joint Force Headquarters commanded elements of Canada's sea, land and air forces in a joint and combined combat operation.” He finishes his introduction with this: “Commodore Miller and Sharon Hobson have compiled an entertaining account of Canada's role in the Gulf War which should be of interest to the military and civilian reader alike.” Note that he uses “Gulf War”.

The official history of Operation Friction references the Gulf War as a “war” on numerous pages, including the jacket, which states, “The crisis in the Persian Gulf in 1990-1991 saw Canada's armed forces sent off for war for the first time since the intervention in Korea.”

The recognition being sought from the Canadian government has been spearheaded by a master corporal, who is the president of the association, and a warrant officer, who is the vice-president. They represent all of the sailors, airmen and women and army personnel who participated in the Gulf War. I fully support them. A coalition of the willing went to war to expel Iraqis from Kuwait, and a war ensued. There can be no doubt in this committee that veterans of the Gulf War in 1990-91 are indeed war veterans.

In closing, I would like to pass on former member of Parliament Peter Stoffer's advice to me when coming before this committee. By the way, he informed me that he founded the first ACVA. He wanted me to remind you that it took 50 years for the government to recognize merchant naval veterans from World War II as war veterans, with a similar delay for Korean War veterans. As it's only been 34 years since the Gulf War, his hope was that you wouldn't take another 16 years to do the right thing and recognize Gulf War veterans as war veterans.

Thank you.