Since no one else has taken a stab at it:
Unit Recognition: War of 1812
While it is commendable that Canadians and Canadian regiments want to recognize and commemorate the actions of their forebears in the War of 1812, the manner in doing so must be developed with careful respect of precedent, but without rewriting either historical facts or existing traditions of formal recognition. Recognition must also be developed without abandoning existing award systems, and not simply by ignoring nearly two centuries of developed process to reinstate a perceived simpler system of a bygone era (which, notably, did not award any such honours by the standards of the day). It is, perhaps, more important to accept what such commemoration is not, rather than to attempt to equate it to existing systems of honours and awards.
To begin with, what would be the purpose? I would suggest that this is twofold. Firstly, it would serve to establish and maintain a more formalized connection between existing Canadian regiments and those units of the War of 1812 that were raised in the provinces that became Canada. Secondly, to ensure that during any commemorative events, there are regiments ready to represent their memory and their actions without confusion as to which units should be requested (or tasked) to provide such representation. Let us not forget that with any such assignment of historical representation comes the responsibility to actually stand up and do it when needed.
While we can take some principals of application from the systems of battle honours and perpetuation, it is important to realize that commemoration of War of 1812 units would be neither of these. That, perhaps, will be the most difficult aspect to get all participants to understand. Just because a unit may be designated to commemorate a unit of the War of 1812 at Queenston Heights should never then lead to questions of a battle honour or other formal recognition. Similarly, it must be clear that this is, in no manner, a declaration that formal lineages exists to those units.
As a final introductory point, it is accepted that no plan will please all stakeholders.
So, where to begin …
To determine eligibility of units it is necessary to expand on the fact that a system to commemorate units of the War of 1812 is not equivalent to receipt of battle honours. To attempt to declare an equivalency to battle honours would require detailed analysis of roles, actions and battlefield contributions. This would eliminate some units from further consideration. If the purpose is to be commemorative, then it needs to be equitable and recognize each participating unit.
Similarly, it is not perpetuation. The system of perpetuation was developed after the First World War specifically to provide for the continuation of battle honours. Units without battle honours are not perpetuated, and that condition remains in effect today.
The first step towards War of 1812 commemoration, therefore, is to develop a list of the participating units -- as they were organized on the ground at the time. It is necessary to begin here to avoid the inevitable conflicts with unit oral traditions of participation.
Once that list is developed, the originating regiments need to be established for any ad hoc units; this could be based upon the parent regiment of the commanding officers, or the originating regiments of the largest components of troops. Confirming these units can establish the geographic points of origin to determine the most appropriate current unit to commemorate each unit of 1812. (The use of geographic areas within which units were raised calls into one of the guiding principles used to determine perpetuation of units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919.)
Taking a page from the system of perpetuation, it is suggested that only a single modern regiment should commemorate each unit of the War of 1812. This avoids potential for conflict of overlapping responsibilities to represent units or attempts of participating elements to “pull rank” or to declare superiority based on current order of precedence. In isolated instances where multiple units wish to make a case to claim the privilege of commemorating a War of 1812 unit and it is found to have merit by an appropriate committee, then a carefully developed agreement to share the privilege between them must be developed.
The result should be a fairly simple list of units of the War of 1812, and opposite those unit names would be the names of the modern regiments assigned to commemorate them.
The language by which units describe such a connection to units of the War of 1812 must also be carefully developed: it is not lineage, it is not perpetuation, it should be described as “having the privilege to commemorate the actions of _____ in the War of 1812.” To fail in developing a clear understanding of the nature of the connection, and its modern origins, would be to set the conditions for an even greater potential for confusion over claims of lineage than may exist today.
The poor record we have across the army in understanding such things as regimental perpetuation, amalgamations, battle honours and all the other things people might like to label historical minutiae, there remains great potential for confusion when misinterpretation and simplification slips into how this might be explained to serving members and to all Canadians. This potential for confusion needs to be prepared for in order to avoid further confusion of the historical record by the populist, and often inaccurate, oral narrative.
As a final point it is proposed that no specific devices or other physical items be taken into formal use. This, again, reduces conflicting perceptions of the system of commemoration with other formal honours systems.
