A request to add the 1990–91 Persian Gulf War to the National War Memorial is under review, but Veterans Affairs Canada says doing so would mark a departure from current practice since no Canadians died in the conflict.A Department of Veterans Affairs briefing note says the request, made by the advocacy group Persian Gulf Veterans of Canada, is being considered ahead of the 35th anniversary of the war’s end on February 28. Blacklock's Reporter says more than 5,100 Canadians served during the Gulf War, though none were killed in action.The note, titled Recognition, said the National War Memorial is meant to honour all who served, but that every conflict currently inscribed — including the Boer War, First and Second World Wars, Korea and the Afghan War — involved Canadian combat deaths. .The Boer and Afghan inscriptions were added in 2014.“While adding the Gulf War dates would set a precedent for future additions, the department continues to engage with the Persian Gulf Veterans of Canada,” the memo stated. It also acknowledged differing views among veterans and historians about expanding the list of conflicts recognized on the monument.Veterans Affairs has classified Gulf War service as “special duty” rather than “wartime service,” noting that Canada’s sovereignty was not at stake during the operation. .Officials told a 2024 Commons committee that this designation reflects Canada’s limited combat role.Past claims that Gulf War service led to elevated rates of suicide were dismissed in a 2019 mortality report. It found no increased death rate among Gulf War veterans and concluded that deployed personnel had a 50% lower suicide risk than the general population. Even within the military, those who served in the Gulf had lower suicide rates than non-deployed infantry.The Commons veterans affairs committee later acknowledged in a report titled The Persian Gulf War Was A War that while the conflict met the definition of war for Kuwait, it did not for Canada. The war began with Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and ended with a ceasefire in February 1991.
