Ottawa, Ontario
Justin Schmidt-Clever is a United Nations Peacekeeping Veteran with service in Haiti and has been a Reserve Army Officer since 1987. Mr. Schmidt-Clever is Vice President and Treasurer of the John Gardam (Ottawa) Branch of the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping and a member of The Royal Canadian Legion. He is also a member of the Board and Treasurer of the Fourth Figure Fund, a charitable fundraising group that aims to add a figure of a police officer to the National Peacekeeping Monument in Ottawa. As an active member of these Veterans’ organizations, Mr. Schmidt-Clever has assisted with and attended numerous commemorative events and helped plan the annual Peacekeepers’ Day parade held each August. Following his return from Haiti in 2009, Mr. Schmidt-Clever spearheaded the design and creation of the Canadian peacekeeping service tie, which has become a popular symbol of peacekeeping service within Veterans’ organizations. Through his work with The Royal Canadian Legion branch in Richmond, Ontario, Mr. Schmidt-Clever assisted with a project to raise a commemorative cairn.
His commitment to remembering the fallen has extended beyond Canada. In Jamaica, he identified the graves of seven Canadian servicemen, located the gravesites in the Jamaica Military Cemetery, and made rubbings of the plaques and grave details, which he shared with the regimental museum in Canada. In St. Kitts and Nevis, Mr. Schmidt-Clever located the graves of three Canadian servicemen, personally arranged for workers to clear the graves of tropical growth, and arranged for a small service at the graves on Remembrance Day 2013.
Mr. Schmidt-Clever has also been an instrumental member of Wreaths Across Canada since its inception. He has arranged for important logistical support of the event and has escorted foreign Defence Attachés in placing wreaths on the gravesites of foreign soldiers.