Canadian veteran knighted in B.C. for helping Afghan interpreter and his family escape Taliban rule

Burnaby, B.C. -

A Canadian veteran has been welcomed into the Order of St. George after being knighted during a ceremony in Burnaby, B.C.

Stephen Peddle, a retired major who served in the military for 28 years, was recognized for his work in helping get an Afghan interpreter’s family members safely into Canada.

Peddle’s service included two tours in Afghanistan, one in 2007 and another 2012. He retired in 2019. When he first arrived, he met a young, local interpreter named Sangeen Abdul Mateen, forming a fast friendship.

“(Mateen) was intelligent, ambitious, friendly,” Peddle said. “While I was in his country, he did everything that he could do to keep me safe, he could pick up on things with his people, their body language, that I might not have picked up on.”

Peddle served in Kandahar, where he worked with about 500 Afghan soldiers, relying on Mateen to help translate.

“He was my voice for that entire tour, communicating with those Afghan soldiers,” Peddle said. “I walked away with a bond for life.”

Mateen came to Canada in 2012 and studied to become an electrician. He now owns a commercial business in Ontario, where he lives with his wife and four children.

But many of his family members remained in Afghanistan. During the summer, as international troops withdrew from the country, Mateen feared his family members could be captured by the Taliban. His father was a senior officer in the Afghan national army, and his brother a national interpreter.

“Being that I’m an ex-intelligence officer, I do know that it was a legitimate threat to life for some of his family by association, or by what they were doing for Canada,” Peddle said.

Peddle helped 12 of Mateen’s family members come to Canada.

“It was a lot of work for him, myself and other veterans,” he said. “His family were one of the last flights out of Kabul.”

The story caught the attention of the Order of St. George, an historic organization that is “committed to serve and support the military communities, veterans, and those still serving.”

Allen Plett, knight commander and prior of the Order of St. George Cascadia Priory, said he reached out to Peddle to offer the honour of becoming a “field knight.”

“It’s an honorary recognition on the part of the Order of St. George of people in the Canadian community who give service,” Plett said. “Here’s a veteran, retired, that not only said something, but did something.”

Peddle, who lives in Alberta, flew to B.C. for the ceremony in Burnaby on Sunday.

The Order of St. George has started a campaign with the Toronto-based True Patriot Love Foundation to raise money to help relocate Afghan interpreters and support the mental health of veterans. The organization is aiming to raise $50,000 by Dec. 31.