th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, N ov em be r 7, 20 19 | 26 Canadians from every walk of life provide outstanding volunteer service to veterans, their communities and their country. In April 2001, the Governor General authorized the Minister of Veterans A� airs Commendation to formally recognize these Canadians' contributions. � e Governor General Warrant states the Minister of Veterans A� airs Commendation be "...awarded to individuals who have performed commendable service to the Veteran community and/or individuals who represent commendable role models for their fellow Veterans." � e Commendation consists of a certi� cate, a lapel pin for civilian wear and a bar for wear with decorations. � e design is a gold maple leaf resting on a red poppy--a � ower long associated with the sacri� ces of war--and the Royal Crown on the top of the pin. Eligible recipients must be: • an individual, not a group or couple, of any age; • a volunteer who made signifi cant, sustained and unpaid contributions to their Veteran community; and • a Canadian citizen or permanent Canadian resident when nominated � e following are a few of the many individuals who as received the award that is presented annually. • a Canadian citizen or permanent Canadian resident when nominated CANADA REMEMBERS 2019CANADA REMEMBERS 2019 NOTNOTNOTNOTNOTNOTNOTNOTWe Shall Forget Corporal (Retired) Frederick Smith, Milton, 2016 Corporal (Retired) Frederick Smith is a Veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces with 1st Battalion Roy- al Canadian Regiment. Following a traumatic post- ing to the Golan Heights, where Canadian troops monitored a cease� re between Israel and Syria un- der the UN banner, Cpl (Retd) Smith le� the Army in 1981. His downslide into di� culty started at that moment as he relied on exterior stimuli to cope with everyday life and fear, problems linked to what would later be diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder. A� er years of homelessness and hav- ing struggled through the suicide of his son, Cpl (Retd) Smith admitted himself into a hospital to receive care. Since 2007, with more stability in his life, Cpl (Retd) Smith set out to help veterans � nd assistance with their own struggles and founded an organization called Veterans Helping Veterans. � e concept is simple: Cpl (Retd) Smith walks the streets in search of homeless veterans and o� ers to help them. He introduces veterans to assistance programs in order to � nd shelter, counselling, or addiction resources and helps form links be- tween the veterans and Veterans A� airs Canada and � e Royal Canadian Legion. Cpl (Retd) Smith has willingly invested a signi� cant amount of his own per- sonal income into helping veterans. In 2015, the � rst annual Veterans Helping Veterans' golf tournament raised $24,000 and collected donations of 900 pairs of new underwear and large amounts of personal hygiene items, things that most people take for granted but that some people do not have access to. � e primary goal of Veterans Helping Veterans is to get veterans the help they deserve. Cpl (Retd) Smith has helped countless veterans, serving members and their families includ- ing a fair number of veterans that have come o� the streets and have established some sort of normalcy in their lives. - Details based on 2016 information Robert � omas, Waterdown, 2010 Robert (Bob) � omas is a retired Canadian Forces Veteran. An active volunteer, � omas belongs to many organizations. For the past 12 years, he has been a member of the Canadian National Exhibition Warriors' Day Parade Council and for the past four years has been chairman of their Parade Participation Awards Committee. � omas is an active member of B Award honours volunteers for service to veterans A Authorized Dealer for Berton Blvd 348 Guelph Street, Georgetown (Behind YoYo's, next to Cooper Standard) www.kabinetpro.com 905-702-7719 OnNov 11th please take a moment to honour those who protect our Freedoms.