[3] It is awarded by the Canadian monarch, usually through the Governor General of Canada, to members of the Canadian Forces or allied forces wounded or killed in action, and to members whose death under honourable circumstances is a result of injury or disease related directly to military service.

[4] The Sacrifice Medal is in the form of a 37-millimetre-diameter (1.5 in) silver disc topped by St. Edward's Crown, symbolizing the Canadian monarch's role as the fount of honour.

On the reverse is the word sacrifice alongside a depiction of the statue Mother Canada, one of Walter Seymour Allward's allegorical figures adorning the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.

[4] This medallion is worn at the left chest, suspended on a 31.8 mm wide ribbon coloured with vertical stripes in purposefully sombre red (recalling spilled blood), black (symbolizing grief and loss), and white (representative of both hope and peace).

[3] These tenets were later augmented when, on 19 October 2009, the Department of National Defence announced that all service related deaths would qualify for the Sacrifice Medal, whether as a result of direct hostile action or not.