Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday that the government hasn't made a final decision on whether to honour the Unknown Soldier with the country's most prestigious medal for valour.

"We've actually had some mixed response from veterans' organizations -- not all opposed but some opposed, some in favour -- and the government hasn't taken a final decision on that," Harper told reporters in Toronto where he made a funding announcement.

Veterans groups are expressing opposition to the idea of honouring the Unknown Soldier with the country's most prestigious medal for valour, according to a report.

The Victoria Cross honours the highest acts of military bravery, but some veterans groups are saying the Unknown Soldier is meant to represent all veterans and shouldn't be singled out with the top honour.

The medal, which has been awarded to 1,350 soldiers, has been awarded to only 94 Canadians. The last time a Canadian was awarded the medal was in 1945.

The medal is the military's highest award for valour, to be awarded for "most conspicuous bravery, a daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy."

The Globe and Mail has reported that a newly designed Victoria Cross, the first one created in Canada, will be presented by to Prime Minister Stephen Harper by Queen Elizabeth at a ceremony in April marking 90 years since the Battle of Vimy Ridge in France.

It will be presented to the prime minister, who will bring the medal back to Canada, as a symbol of thanks to the Unknown Soldier and all the soldiers he represents.

While the honour has not been confirmed by the Governor-General's staff, the Royal Canadian Legion and other veterans groups have already begun to voice opposition.

In a letter published in Tuesday's Globe, Dominion president of the Legion John Frost contends that "placed in a sacred tomb... the Unknown Soldier needs no other honour to emphasize his status as a hero among heroes."

Veterans also don't want the Unknown Soldier to be perceived as anything different than the ordinary service members he is meant to represent, Legion spokesman Bob Butt told the newspaper, nor do they want the value of the medal to be undermined.

The Unknown Soldier's remains rest in a tomb next to the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

The soldier, whose body was exhumed in 2000 from a cemetery near Vimy Ridge, was one of 1,603 unidentified Canadian troops who died in the First World War battle. His name and service record are unknown.

When the soldier's remains were transported to Ottawa, the government and veterans groups agreed he would receive no additional honour.

But now it seems as though that decision has been repealed without consultation.

"The Unknown Soldier was brought back to Canada to be a reminder of why we serve, not to be given any awards," Butt told The Globe. "Do we need to give a medal of that level to an unknown soldier who was brought back for a totally different reason?"