Minister, yesterday, I met with veterans of the 1990 Persian Gulf War. They were complaining about the fact that they are having a hard time getting this government to listen to them and to give them the same recognition as Korean War veterans. Because of their situation, these veterans who served our country are not receiving the same compensation. In other words, it is not worth as much to have lost a leg in the Persian Gulf as it is to have lost one in Korea.

Isn’t it shameful that the Canadian Armed Forces do not guarantee equal treatment to all the men and women who serve our country in situations of conflict? That certainly does not help recruit soldiers or motivate our troops.

Thank you very much, senator. Let me acknowledge the service of all of our veterans, including those who fought in the Persian Gulf War in 1990 and in subsequent conflicts around the world. I’ve also met with those same veterans — I believe they’re the same ones — and they’re a terrific group of people. We spent a lot of time talking about their experiences.

I’ve also appeared quite recently before the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and testified about the difference between the two pieces of legislation that govern benefits for members of the Canadian Armed Forces in different conflicts. The Pension Act applied to those veterans who fought in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. They were under the Pension Act, and there was legislation passed in 2006 that is essentially a veterans’ benefit act. I want to acknowledge that it does not have exactly the same benefits, but there’s great parity between them.

In the example you cited — and I discussed this with the same veterans that you did — a person lost their foot. Under the previous act, everybody received exactly the same amount of money for a lost limb. Under the new act, there’s an acknowledgment that the impact of losing that limb goes far beyond simply writing a cheque and receiving a certain amount of money for the leg. It talks about income replacement, other ongoing services and other types of injury supports that people require. It’s not exactly the same, but there is great parity. If there is disparity in how we treat those people —

These 1990 veterans served Canada just the same. Don’t you find it ironic that, unlike Korean War veterans, their names can’t be added to the National War Memorial, when we have had a monument just behind our building here in Ottawa since 2012 to honour the horses, mules, dogs and pigeons that helped our soldiers in times of war?

I think commemoration, acknowledgment and respect for their service are absolutely essential, so I’m going to agree vigorously with you that we need to do a better job of acknowledging their service. One of the challenges I face is when someone says, “Well, can’t you just retroactively declare a war?” Of course, as Minister of Defence, I do not have that authority. In fact, Canada has not declared a war since 1945 when the original Geneva Conventions were signed.

The only authority I possess as Minister of National Defence is either to declare, under the Veterans Benefit Act, a particular conflict as either a special duty operation or a special duty locale. I can identify it as special duty. I have done it, and my predecessors have done it frequently, for a wide variety of conflicts. One of the concerns expressed by those veterans is that —