"We want to thank the tens of thousands of Canadians who signed our petition in support of a State Funeral," said Rudyard Griffiths, Executive Director of The Dominion Institute. Mr. Griffiths continues: "By passing a motion to offer a full state funeral today the Parliament of Canada will allow a grateful nation to pay proper tribute to our last Great War veteran on his passing and honour the over 600,000 Canadians he served with under arms from 1914-1918."

Currently, only three veterans of the First World War remain – Lloyd Clemett (106 years of age), John Babcock (106 years of age) and Dwight Wilson (105 years of age).