The Victoria Cross has been presented to 96 Canadians, or people closely associated with Canada, between its creation soon after the Crimean War and 1993 when the Canadian Victoria Cross was instituted. However, no Canadian has received either honour since 1945. The first Canadian to be awarded the Victoria Cross was Alexander Roberts Dunn for his actions at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War in 1854. Thomas Ricketts, a private in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the First World War, received the Victoria Cross and is sometimes erroneously considered a Canadian soldier, but Newfoundland was a self-governing dominion at the time and did not become a province of Canada until 1949. Seventy-one Victoria Crosses were awarded to Canadians for their actions in the First World Wa