MPs voice support for recognizing Afghanistan, Gulf veterans for wartime service

OTTAWA — Members of Parliament say they have all-party support to speed through a bill to grant wartime service recognition to veterans of modern conflicts like Afghanistan.

The Canadian government has not formally designated anything as wartime service since the Korean War, despite deployments to armed combat zones.

The bill would establish a national framework for granting recognition of service during wartime, although the bill itself does not specify which conflicts count as wartime service.

It requires the government to set clear criteria for designating service as wartime service, and would make the government publicly explain its decisions.

Veterans groups had pushed for the legislation and say the recognition is long overdue, although it would not have any effect on pensions or benefits.

Independent Sen. Hassan Yussuff introduced Bill S-246, the Wartime Service Recognition Act, in April. The legislation entered its first stage of debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Yussuff said at a news conference that Persian Gulf veterans had spent years lobbying parliamentarians to get this on the political agenda.

“At no other time again in our history would veterans have to beg or lobby members of Parliament to pass a law to recognize them for their service in this country,” Yussuff said.

Michael McGlennon, a retired warrant officer and vice-president of the Persian Gulf Veterans of Canada, said the bill would “finally relieve the burden from veterans of having to advocate for their own recognition.”

“Tragically, many of our Gulf veterans have already died waiting for this truthful recognition and acknowledgment of their service to be recognized for what it was, a war.”

Retired colonel Mark Gasparatto, a front-line commander in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, was involved in Operation Medusa, an intense, violent firefight widely known as NATO’s largest-ever land battle.

He said he nearly died six times when deployed.

“We applied significant violence, and we paid the price in blood, sacrifice and psychological injury, upholding our end of the unlimited liability contract with the nation,” he said.

“To call the intensity of the Afghan mission — especially something like Operation Medusa — anything less than wartime service is to minimize the sacrifice of those who died, those who were wounded and those who continue to live with that sacrifice today,” Gasparatto said.

More than 40,000 Canadian Armed Forces members served during the more than decade-long war where 158 Canadian soldiers died, along with civilians.

Deployments since Korea would be assessed for the wartime service designation under the new framework across a range of conditions.

The bill says the criteria should consider the level of risk military members faced; the nature, scale and intensity of the operations; and exposure to conditions that could cause physical or psychological harm.

It would also take into consideration any armed conflict in the area where Canadian military members had served, regardless of whether a war had been declared.

The bill would extend to future conflicts as well.

Defence Minister David McGuinty and Veterans Affairs Minister Jill McKnight pledged this week to consult with veterans and military experts about reviewing the classifications of past operations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2026.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press