The Ben Mulroney Show - A big step to righting a historic wrong regarding the Victoria Cross

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

GUEST: MP Pauline Rochefort / served as the member of Parliament for the riding of Nipissing—Timiskaming as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada since 2025 If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Conditions apply. In communities across Canada, hourly Amazon employees can grow their skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. Well, we don't often talk about parliamentary petitions on the Ben Mulroney show. They're not particularly exciting. But the one that we're going to be discussing next is one of deep, deep significance for Canadian history and for how we honor and remember those who have laid down their lives in the bravest possible fashion for this country.

Petition E6661 is a parliamentary petition, a sponsored by our guest, calling for an independent military honors review board because there was a private name Jess LaReschel who in Afghanistan, while in Afghanistan, did almost superhuman things in defense of his comrades in arms, saving so many. lives defending a position against insurgents all while his body had been shredded by the enemy. And he was honored with the star of military valor, which is, of course, of deep significance and a high honor. But it is not the highest honor in this country. The highest honor is the Victoria Cross, which has not been given out to a single Canadian soldier since 1945. And it is a head scratcher that we have not done so because it assumes that we have not

had a single soldier who has behaved in such a way worthy of that honor. And so let's bring in to the conversation, MP Pauline Rochefort served as the member of parliament for the riding of Nipissing as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada since 2025. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Ben Mulroney Show. Well, Ben, for me, it's an honor to meet you virtually like this. And I should start by saying, while I certainly am new in my involvement with the Victoria Cross, but I do recognize that you have had a long journey and have made a terrific difference in raising this issue, the profile of this issue.

So on behalf of all Canadians, I thank you for. the work you've done. Well, thank you very much. And I'm glad we're doing this because, you know, just because we've done things a certain way for so long since 1945 doesn't mean we can't change it now. And if there was ever a soldier worthy of being, of being honored with this and also changing how we view this honor so that, you know, God forbid, we see another soldier who loses their life, but in such a heroic way, then we'll be able to honor that person appropriately. Absolutely.

Well, certainly, like the petition, as you mentioned, we tabled it today. It was a good day from the perspective of bringing this issue forward and the support of government. I felt, I felt, I felt, I felt there was support for this particular direction. And so we should point out that this petition is not about awarding a medal to just that or she. It's about, in a sense, creating an independent review of military decorations. And so it would enable us to review when new information is provided the case of just that or shell as well as the case of potentially of other soldiers that have served and have taken. Afghanistan and maybe in other conflicts. And so I think it enables us.

Currently, there is no mechanism that would enable us as a country to review these issues. And so it is important. You know, it is with time that sometimes all of the factual information comes forward, all of the information that is necessary to make the proper judgment. And so I strongly believe that we are on an important path, the right path, and for me it's an honor to be part of this journey. Madam Rosh, give me a sense, in an ideal situation,

if everything goes the right way here, talk to me about timeline and talk to me about what steps need to be achieved in order for this petition to turn into, in fact, this independent military honors review board. Well, the government now has 45 days, as you probably know, following the

tabling of a petition to provide a response and basically I think at this point everyone is trying to understand where does this decision need to be made and so because of the nature

of the request it's calling for something that is new and anything that is new basically requires some understanding of where do we need to make that decision so I think that that process is going on behind the scene my impressions are that

amongst all, this is a non-partisan issue. Yes, of course. And I should point out, Ben, that today we had a few events on the Hill with members from across Canada. People came from across Canada. And so we also had parliamentarians and we had senators that were present. And so basically, it is really non-partisan. And it was really great to hear members of all of the parties speak about how do we move this forward. And so I feel first and foremost, there's a commitment.

Yeah. Right. There is a desire. There is very strong representation from the veterans community, as you know, from valor in the presence of the enemy, from true patriot love, from the Royal Canadian Legion. And so all these elements are there. So I think that that is very strong. And through this process today, I sense that within government there is a strong desire to maybe correct this. this issue.

Yeah, and Madam Rossoe, I want to, I want to talk about that now because I took, when I was learning about this story, yes, I couldn't believe that, that Jess La Rochelle had not won this, this highest honor. But to learn that nobody had since 1945 was the bigger question for me. And it feels that in doing this, we're writing the ship, you know, I remember, a commercial, a beer commercial years ago where the guy I'm Bob and I'm Canadian. He said

something like we believe in peacekeepers, not war or something like that. And Canada, one of our great accomplishments is the creation of the UN peacekeepers and that's wonderful. But I think far too many Canadians defaulted to a binary where if you're

you're either a war monger or you're a peacemaker. And in war there is nuance and there are shades. And there are shades and not everything is there are no heroes and there are no villains necessarily. And so you can have admirable people behaving as heroes even though you don't necessarily agree with the war effort itself. And it feels like one of the reasons that we didn't get to, we haven't done anything since

1945, is because we were stuck in this binary that is, that was unhelpful. I think that's a good point you make And I think as Canadians We realize that the world has changed Something has changed And there is no doubt that Well we'll speak about Mark Carney And you know

This particular point in time in our history And I think Canadians are saying You know We need to defend ourselves We need to recognize that we live in a world That's full of conflict And as part of that I think As we need to recruit people

You know, in the military, the Canadian Armed Forces, all these issues now are coming at the forefront and we're saying we need to address maybe this particular issue. It is now important to do so. I should point out, Ben, that for me, you know, before Christmas, when we heard Donald Trump, president of the United States, sort of, you know, point out that the Canadian soldiers

were not at the front lines of a time. That was terrible. That's really terrible. And I know that we pointed out as Canada, We pointed out, and rightly so, that, you know, the United States had awarded 30 of our soldiers with the U.S. Bronze Star. At the same time, it would have been so wonderful to be able to say. And we, as a country, have recognized a number of those soldiers with Canada's highest medal of distinction. And so I think that that's where we're at now.

These are heroes. And, you know, today we had great speakers, obviously. And you know them, certainly General Rick Hillier. We had from Valor in the presence of the enemy, Bruce Monkour. And, you know, they spoke about these people that have, you know, we talked about hockey, how we value, you know, the presence of hockey players and why, how we don't value those that have supported and defended our democracy and have done these incredible things that you well know. That's exactly right. feels. And I'm so glad you mentioned as we try to attract new people to this newly invigorated

military. And I thank our prime minister for really leading the charge on that. But you can't, you can't attract people if you're not, if you don't demonstrate a complete and total pride in that military. And this to me is a very important component to that. And so to you, Pauline Hochvot, I say thank you very much for being. here. But more importantly, thank you so much for being so enthusiastic about shepherding this project forward. I really appreciate your time. Well, thank you, Ben, for me. It's a pleasure, and I'm speaking with you, and I congratulate you, and thank you for all you've done. So, onwards. Absolutely, onwards. And let's get this right for Jess La Rochelle.

Onwards and upwards. Onwards and upwards. All the best. Hey, when we come back, Hello, there. Thursdays on Global. I'm Madeline Matlock She's the lawyer with the legendary name Don't underestimate Miss Matlock This woman's a shark You know it, baby The one you can trust

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