Poor Alberta

The Hon. Don Ethell

Earlier today I received this photo from a reader, it is perhaps the worst one yet of His Honour the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. Quite aside from the ridiculous looking beret bedecked with the sort of souvenir patch you get at those touristy shops in Banff to sew on your backpack, here is another photo of Colonel (ret) Ethell wearing two neck insignia simultaneously (which is against the rules in civilian attire) and his trademark medal bar -- twice the regulation length. As a former CF member and a Colonel he certainly knows how to wear his medals correctly, so there is no excuse. If public discussion is the only way to get people to follow the rules then I think we have found our new project.

The Do's and Don'ts of Remembrance Day

That time of year when we gratefully acknowledge the contribution made to Canada by those who have served in the military is upon us. It is always helpful to review the do's and don'ts of Remembrance Day -- these rules are useful throughout the year.


First off, you CANNOT wear the medals of a deceased relative -- EVER! If you do you are breaking the Law and you can be fined or go to jail under Section 419-10 of the Criminal Code of Canada. 


Next, only wear official national honours on the left, and if you have association medals or other unofficial or unrecognized awards they can only be worn on the right side. The Royal Canadian Legion seems to have done a solid job of ensuring that most of its members wear their Legion Medals on the right side, and their official national honours on the left. 

Mr. Chadderton, a good example,
real medals on left,
 unofficial ones of the right.

Sadly, over the years some veterans have "enhanced" their groups of medals by adding a variety of unofficial (dare I say totally fake) medals. Such "fake medals" have been struck by various companies in the UK for all sorts of military operatsions that were never individually recognized by a separate medal. For instance there is a "Battle of Britain Medal" issued by some private mint in Britain. Just mail in your 35 pounds and say that you are entitled to this gem and it arrives in the mail. Never mind the fact that if you had really served in the Battle of Britain you would have almost certainly received the 1939-1945 Star with Battle of Britain Bar. If you want to see the myriad of "awards" click here. 


Mounting these fake medals in with official national honours is a violation of Order-in-Council 1998-591, which prohibits this sort of self-agrandizement. More evidence of the dreaded Instant Dictator Syndrome. Now some readers may be of the mindset that  "this person served Canada in the Second World War, Korea or in the Cold War, who are we to go after them for adding something." Well, the fact is that their contemporaries didn't dress up their medal groups with "fake medals," if they were serving members of the CF they would be charged for wearing "fake medals" and it is just patently wrong to engage in this sort of behaviour. 

How not to wear your medals. 

For those of you interested, the bad example is a UK veteran. On the left side, in addition to his 39-45 Star, Atlantic Star and 39-45 War Medal he has added the Dunkirk Medal (unofficial), and the Atlantic Convoy Medal (unofficial). His right breast is decorated with two Russian awards (one of which is almost certainly approved for wear in the UK for members of the Royal Navy who were involved in the northern convoys) the other two are indistinguishable. 

An Inauspicious Beginning

Where is H.E.'s CC?

A number of readers sent me photos of His Excellency the Governor General receiving the first poppy of the year in advance of Remembrance Day. While His Excellency was wearing his medal bar, he was not wearing any neck insignia, when in fact he should have been wearing his CC or CMM. It could be that he simply forgot to put it on when dressing, but this is a thin excuse. 

This is the sort of thing any half competent Aide de Camp or member of the Rideau Hall staff should have noticed. Let us hope this is not repeated -- it would be a real shame if Mr. Johnston was to adopt the attitude of one of his predecessors who patently refused to wear medals other than an infrequent display of his CC (see photo below for a clue of who it was). These sorts of things are not terribly complex and require only minor attention to detail. At the installation ceremony a month ago he was properly dressed with CC at the neck and medal bar on his breast. 

Even the CC was rarely worn.

Surely when you are appointed Governor General someone takes the time to explain that you are going to have to wear dress clothes much of the time and you will also have to wear medals on many occasions. As President of the University of Waterloo His Excellency regularly wore his academic gown on the appropriate occasions, so the transition from "academic garb" to "state garb" should be a natural one. 

Vice-Regal Report Card

Duchesne, a good example

As a number of the Queen's representatives seem to have difficulty wearing their orders, decorations and medals correctly I thought it a good idea to put together a little report card. These various officials have all been graded on the basis of how they wear their medals -- for some it is an easy test. For the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec we give an automatic pass. Poor M. Duchesne has no medals to wear, so he could hardly wear them incorrectly. The Lieutenant Governors of Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Newfoundland and New Brunswick get an "A" for they all seem to be wearing their insignia correctly. Governor General David Johnston also gets an "A" for wearing his CC and two commemorative medals correctly. Saskatchewan gets an "A+" as Lieutenant Governor Barnhardt has done a stellar job of wearing his various insignia.

Lee, another good example

Lieutenant Governor Francis of Nova Scotia gets a "B-" for wearing her Order of Nova Scotia like an olympic athlete. A harsher grade has not been assigned as she does not seem to make this error often, at least not in photos on the web.

The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, Mr. Point gets a "D-" for wearing the wrong insignia and incorrect insignia on mess dress, not to mention wearing insignia in the wrong order. Let us hope that the Crown's representative in BC will cease breaking CF dress regulations!

Former Governor General Michaelle Jean gets an "F" for the many and bizarre ways which she wore her orders, decorations and medals -- going so far as to wear the wrong insignia on at least one occasion!

Lieutenant Governor Ethell of Alberta receives very special "F-" for wearing two neck insignia simultaneously and for wearing a medal bar that is more than twice the length authorized by the CF dress instructions.

To the bottom of the class; NS, BC, AB and former GG Jean, when will you people learn you cannot just wear your medals any old way? !!! Some of you are setting a terrible example. No one really cares that you hold a high position if you look like a trumped up dictator -- Instant Dictator Syndrome seems most serious with the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta who is verging on a terminal case of Instant Dictator Syndrome, the likes we have not seen since Richard Rohmer wore three neck orders with his mess kit!

Major General Richard Rohmer, A Man of Many Modes of Dress... Most of them Wrong

Honorary Deputy Commissioner of the OPP

It appears as though our dear friend Richard Rohmer -- soon to the poster-child of this blog -- has invented all sorts of amazing ways to wear his many orders, decorations and medals incorrectly. This has to be one of the most hilarious photos ever taken of someone wearing their insignia incorrectly. It is as though Rohmer is attempting to compete with the likes of Idi Amin and Jean Bedel Bokassa in his mode of dress. This is truly embarrassing. Under no circumstances are you supposed to wear three neck insignia while in mess dress. It is impractical and it looks absolutely bizarre.  This is the dreaded Instant Dictator Syndrome gone wild. I can't say I understand why a hero of the RCAF with a DFC and all would go to such great lengths to look the head of a certain Axis air force c. 1944. Let us hope that Lieutenant Governor Ethell of Alberta doesn't see this photo or he might start wearing 3 neck badges!

Sadly it gets worse. Here we have Rohmer wearing the uniform of a Major General. Can you spot the problems? Some are more obvious than others. You can't really see it but here Rohmer is again wearing three neck insignia, all in violation of the CF Dress Instructions(CFP-265), but it gets worse. See that little badge above Rohmer's wings? That is the Aide de Camp cypher for an ADC to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. It is supposed to be worn on the shoulder, under the second maple leaf of his Major General's rank, it is not supposed to be worn on the upper part of the breast, this too is in violation of the CF Dress Instructions.

I have saved the most glaring offence for last. Beside his Distinguished Flying Cross Rohmer is wearing the insignia of a Officer of the Order of St. John. He is not an Officer of the Order of St. John, he is a Knight of Justice of the Order, so he is wearing a medal that he is not entitled to. This is in violation of Order-in-Council 1998-591 and the Statutes of the Order of St. John which clearly explain you can only wear the grade of the Order that you are entitled to.

As with Mrs. Haverstock, Rohmer has substituted a lower grade of an Order all so that he can wear an extra medal on his medal bar, having run out of room around his neck. This is truly embarrassing. Given that Rohmer has not been an Officer of the Order of St. John since 1983 when he was promoted to Commander of the Order, he can hardly claim that he just hasn’t had time to get his medals remounted!   

As an esteemed lawyer and one of Her Majesty's Council Learned in the Law (he is a QC) you would think that Rohmer would be adverse to breaking a federal Order-in-Council and the statues of the Order of St. John.

The Hon. Gordon Barnhardt, SOM. A MODEL LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR

Discourage by my expose of Vice-Regal office holders wearing their medals incorrectly a reader emailed me this photo. It is of the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan wearing his insignia correctly! Saskatchewan Order of Merit around the neck with his medal bar on the left breast and his Vice Regal badge above. Bravo Lieutenant Governor Barnhardt! If you look closely you will see that His Honour's SOM is worn on a miniature ribbon, and it should be worn on a full length one, however this is a very minor infraction.

Michaelle Jean, CC, CMM, COM, CD

Excellent work, everything is correct!

While Adrienne Clarkson pioneered new and improper ways to wear orders, decorations and medals her successor Mme. Jean took this creativity to new heights. It is worth noting at the outset that orders and medals are NOT fashion accessories, yet Mme. Jean regularly viewed them as such. There is evidence that she knew how to wear her various insignia correctly, but these instances became quite rare as her tenure as Governor General drew to a close. Here we have a nice picture of Mme. Jean and her husband wearing their insignia correctly.


As the mandate dragged on Lafond almost completely ceased wearing his Order of Canada, perhaps he felt embarrassed that he collected one of Canada's highest honours for civil achievement through the accident of marriage (why the spouse of the Governor General gets a free CC makes little sense to me, but that is another issue altogether). 

Where is Mme. Jean's Order of Canada?

Here we have Mme. Jean on a state visit to Norway. Everyone in this photo is wearing their insignia, Jean can be seen wearing her CC around the neck... like an Olympic athlete, but no miniatures. I guess they just didn't go with the attire she chose to wear. All of Mme. Jean's female predecessors managed to wear their CC insignia with regularity, and especially when abroad. Despite this it is nice to see Lafond in white tie and tales. 

Make up your own caption for this photo!

This next photo illustrates the most common mode of dress for Mme. Jean when she attended events with veterans. Order of Canada around the neck, Commander of the Order of Military Merit on a bow, medal bar below. She doesn't seem to have been able to decide between a bow or neck ribbon so she is wearing both -- which is against the rules for wearing Canadian orders, decorations and medals. So much for setting an example! One can only speculate on what the PM is saying to Jean "Who the Hell dresses you? You look like a Christmas tree with all that stuff on, and why are you wearing an Imperial German Hussars overcoat on Remembrance Day!"




Where is her CMM and DStJ Star?

 Thankfully for Remembrance Day 2009 Mme. Jean abandoned her ersatz German overcoat and dawned a CF uniform. She still managed to break the CF dress regulations as she is not wearing her Commander of the Order of Military Merit (this should be poking out of the top button of her tunic) and she is not wearing the breast star of a Dame of Justice of the Order of St. John (this should be on her left pocket). Also note that Her former Excellency is not wearing her collar badges either! Even a mediocre Aide de Camp should have spotted the missing insignia. 

Lastly we have a photo of Mme. Jean wearing miniatures. This is great, aside from the fact that this photo was taken in the middle of the day -- and you don't wear miniatures during the day. Photos taken following a recent Order of Canada investiture reveal Jean wearing her miniatures on a 45 degree angle to follow the collar of her dress, more treatment of honours as fashion accessories. Jeanne Sauve would not be impressed!

Lastly we have this gem. Mme. Jean in naval attire wearing her various orders and medals, but what is that breast star? The star of a Dame of Grace of the Order of St. John. The problem is that Jean is a Dame of Justice of the Order of St. John (star is gold with no lions and unicorns between the arms), so here we have a Governor General wearing a insignia that she is not entitled to. All in violation of the Statutes of the Order of St. John. Sadly, as we have already seen Governors General and Lieutenant Governors regularly ignore the rules for wearing Canadian orders, decorations and medals.

For keen readers here is a photo of the star that Mme. Jean should be wearing. Things are in a pretty sad state when a Governor General is going around incorrectly dressed while in CF uniform -- even the Commander-in-Chief of Canada needs to follow the dress regulations.