Governor General Michaëlle Jean announced Sept. 8 that the Queen has approved a new service medal that will fill an existing gap in recognizing overseas service.

The Operational Service Medal (OSM) was created July 5, 2010, and will be issued with a ribbon specific to the theatre of operations or type of service, including South-West Asia, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Sudan, Humanitas and Expedition.

“There are a wide variety of people who are going to be eligible to receive this new medal,” said André Levesque, director of honours and recognition for the Department of National Defence. “Mainly members of Canadian Forces will be awarded, but civilian members who work for the Canadian Forces; the police forces and civilian members who work for the police forces; and those who have been working with the Canadian Forces overseas are (also) eligible.”

DND is estimating a total of 3,200 eligible recipients and about 50 police officers, said Levesque.

Since there are six different ribbons, there are six eligibility start dates. Eligibility for the South-West Asia theatre goes back to Oct. 7, 2001, Sierra Leone starts July 31, 2002, Haiti March 6, 2004 and Sudan Sept. 15, 2004.

The Humanitas, or humanitarian, ribbon is a new concept.

“We used to have a bar to the Special Service Medal but it was able to cover only military people and, as you can appreciate, a lot of the humanitarian efforts that Canada puts together are combined with police forces and other agencies,” said Levesque.

The Humanitas start date is Aug. 1, 2009, so military and police personnel who were part of Operation Hestia in Haiti are eligible for this OSM ribbon.

The Expedition ribbon’s eligibility starts Oct. 7, 2001, however, so far only one mission is eligible; Operation Proteus, which involves 18 Canadian Forces personnel working with the United States to co-ordinate security matters between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and started May 3, 2005.

“Our dedicated soldiers and police personnel deserve our recognition and gratitude,” said the Governor General. “The medal recognizes the valued contributions of those women and men who, while serving Canada, work tirelessly, often under difficult conditions, to help those in need overseas.”

The OSM is a silver medal consisting of a circular medallion 36 millimetres across with a straight suspension bar. The front has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a Canadian diadem of maple leaves and snowflakes, with the inscription “Elizabeth II Dei Gratia REGINA” and “CANADA” around the outside.

The reverse shows the Royal Crown and on either side of it are three maple leaves joined by one stem. In the middle is a representation of a world globe and underneath are crossed branches of laurel and oak leaves.

The ribbons are 32 millimetres wide with a middle coloured strip, representative of the theatre or task. South-West Asia is sand colour, light green is for Sierra Leone, royal blue is for Haiti, dark green for Sudan, white for Humanitas and light grey for Expedition. The middle colour is flanked on either side by stripes of red and white.

In the order of precedence of the Canadian Honours System the medal shall be worn following the General Service Medal and before the Special Service Medal.

“It’s pretty universal by having the world map. It basically identifies that it could be anywhere in the world and I think it makes it more flexible,” said Levesque. “What’s interesting with the expedition ribbon is that, in the past, we always waited to create new medals every time that something would happen and there are many other smaller operations which happen all over the world and the expedition ribbon will give us the flexibility to recognize those men and women who serve in small operations without having to create a brand new medal every time.”

Currently the Royal Canadian Mint is fabricating the medal.

Rideau Hall spokeswoman Marie-Pierre Bélanger explained that, once completed, there will be an inaugural presentation ceremony presided over by the Governor General. “The date hasn’t been announced yet or confirmed, but it will be in the mandate of the next governor general and after that inaugural ceremony, it will be presented by the usual chain of command,” she said.

In the meantime members of the CF and police forces have started to apply for the medal.