Canada wants to honour the Unknown Soldier with the Victoria Cross medal, but veterans are opposed to the idea.

'[The Victoria Cross] is a very special award, it has never been given lightly,' says Bob Butt, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Legion.
(CBC)

The Victoria Cross is supposed to honour the absolute highest acts of military bravery, veterans say, but there are no records about the Unknown Soldier and the type of service he provided in the First World War.

The anonymous soldier's remains were buried in a stately tomb in Ottawa in 2000 to represent all Canadians who give their life in battle.

"[The Victoria Cross] is a very special award, it has never been given lightly," Bob Butt, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Legion, told CBC News on Monday.

The medal, created in the 1856 by Queen Victoria, has been awarded to 1,350 soldiers, including 94 Canadians. The last time it went to a Canadian was in 1945.

Federal government sources, speaking anonymously to various media outlets this week, said the government plans to revive the Victoria Cross and the first recipient will be the Unknown Soldier.

The Globe and Mail reported Saturday that the medal, with a special Canadian design, will be presented to Prime Minister Stephen Harper by Queen Elizabeth at a ceremony in France in April. Harper will bring the medal back to Canada.

But the Canadian Legion said the Unknown Soldier is supposed to represent all veterans, not singled out with such a high award.

"As veterans will tell you, he is one of us," Butt said of the Unknown Soldier. "He's one of the people that donned the uniform. [He] went over, not for glory, not for medals, not for honours and awards.

A poppy is placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier following Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa on Nov. 11, 2006.
(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)

"He went to service his country, and that's the way he should be remembered."

Decision called misguided

The National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada agrees. The organization has written a letter to Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean urging her to stop the cross from being awarded.

Butt said the government is trying to honour veterans with this latest move, but it is misguided.

"Everybody wants to honour veterans, and sometimes the way that they honour them is not exactly the way veterans themselves want to be honoured," he said.

The Victoria Cross has sometimes been criticized as being too British an award. It was not part of the new Canadian military honour system developed in 1972.

In 1993, the Queen approved the establishment of a Canadian Victoria Cross. The Globe reported Saturday that the Canadian version, which is designed and produced in Canada, will be the one awarded to the Unknown Soldier.