By Richard Lawrence
The Embassy of the State of Kuwait held a reception on the evening of the 7th February, 2026, to mark the upcoming 65th Anniversary of Kuwait’s National Day (25th February) as well as the upcoming 35th Anniversary of Kuwait’s Liberation Day (26th February) and was held in the Governors-General Ballroom of the Westin Hotel. The Embassy hosted a couple of hundred people to drinks and food with attendees including Canadian parliamentarians such as the Honourable Ahmed Hussen and Senator Rebecca Patterson and Canadian Persian Gulf War Veterans (Mike McGlennon, Terry Warner, Ed Denbreigh, along with Rebecca Patterson).
To see the pictures, go to: https://www.richardlawrencephotography.ca/rlpgalleries/2026/kuwait2026/
Remarks were provided by the Kuwait Chargé D’Affairs, Mr. Ali Alastad, and Ms. Sandra McCardell, Associate Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. During Mr. Alastad’s remarks, he noted that it has been 65 years since the establishment of diplomatic links with Canada and that the time has only strengthened the shared common values of our two countries. He also remembered and thanked those Persian Gulf War veterans for their contributions to Kuwait.
Ms. McCardell echoed those sentiments and also mentioned the firefighters that stayed after the conflict to help extinguish the oil well fires. She acknowledged that Kuwait remembers the Canadian efforts and has awarded Liberation Medals to Canadian veterans in 2006 and 2020 and also their assistance in helping evacuate Canadians from Afghanistan. Following her address, there was a gift presentation from the Embassy to Ms. McCardell.
While this reception was clearly a celebration of Kuwait, it is important to remember the contribution of Canadian soldiers in the conflict. It was a 42 nation, US led, United Nations authorized, military action to eject Iraq from Kuwait but was never a declared war. Notwithstanding the lack of official declaration, it was a war, especially to the participants. Canadians undertook both offensive and defensive operations and suffered casualties. It brought together the armed forces of 42 countries against Iraq and bullets were fired and bombs dropped. In ALL RESPECTS, other than a declaration, this was a war. Yet Persian Gulf veterans are denied wartime service benefits as this was “officially” a special operation (just like Putin and the Ukraine I guess), or in Canadian parlance, special duty service.
Look, let’s be reasonable here. The Persian Gulf War, regardless of official designations, was a war and Canadian soldiers participated. Veterans should be entitled to war time service benefits. Special determinations have been made for the Korean War Veterans (also not a declared war) and for the Merchant Marines sailors from WWII (not officially part of the armed forces) so that their special duty service is recognized as war time service and they receive the appropriate benefits. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s a war, and you can call it whatever you want.
If you get a chance to speak to any Member of Parliament, take the opportunity to remind them that sometimes saying “Thank you for your service” is not enough.
