Ottawa nears 1,500 cheques sent for spraying compensation
Veterans Affairs Canada is close to issuing its 1,500th Agent Orange-related compensation cheque to those affected by the deadly chemical at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown during the 1960s.
As of June 23, the department had received more than 2,300 applications for the ex gratia payment of $20,000, with more than 1,440 cheques approved.
Janice Summerby, a media relations adviser with Veterans Affairs Canada, said the department expects that number to continue to rise since more than 7,500 applications have been either sent to people or downloaded from its website.
The federal government announced a $95.6-million compensation package last fall for veterans and civilians affected by the U.S. military's spraying of Agent Orange at Gagetown during the 1960s. Those who qualify and meet a number of medical requirements are eligible for the payment.
Awards, however, are only considered for primary caregivers of individuals who died on or after Feb. 6, 2006 - the date the federal Tories took office.
In total, 10 disability pensions or awards have been granted by Veterans Affairs Canada for Agent Orange-related disabilities associated with service in Gagetown.
"Some were granted prior to the announcement of the ex gratia payment," Summerby said.
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As of June 23, Ottawa has received more than 2,300 applications for the Gagetown ex gratia payments, with more than 1,440 cheques approved. When you add the estimated 1000 deaths from these chemicals, you end up with more then a 65% casualty rate.
There isn't a battle in Canadian history where Canadians would accept a 65% casualty rate and there is no reason to allow our government to now get away with covering this up.
Who in their right minds, with a 65% casualty rate from 2 and 1/2 US barrels, could possibly believe that 5,000 more barrels and over 2 million pounds of identical chemicals sprayed would have no effect on the soldiers, just because in my opinion some incompetent fool in Ottawa allowed an improperly tested and incompletely reported chemical to be registered for use in Canada?
We have people working for us in Ottawa today who profess to believe this fairy tail and even go so far as to say that the Gagetown issue has now been dealt with.
Bill Gerdson CD
V.P. Agent Orange Association of Canada
For further information about the spraying of 3,326,000
litres of 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, Dioxin, Picloram & Hexachlorobenzene
on CFB Gagetown, visit www.agentorangecanada.com
7,500 applications for Agent Orange related medical conditions and that neither includes the already deceased nor the medical conditions from the other 26 or so chemicals that the US used in CFB Gagetown.
Ottawa now with this compensation package expects the other Victims of Canada's own 28 years of spraying to believe that what Ottawa had sprayed was safe.
Ya right!
My father died from diseases that the Vietnamese and American veterans of the Vietnam War got, but he died in 1996 so my mother is not eligible. An irony here is that my father delivered a man to the Nuremberg Trials after the end of World War II and he himself became a victim of a war crime committed by the Canadian government on its own citizens.
When it is revealed how Stephen Harper, his Cabinet and Ministers - and all those involved who preceded them in the Canadian government for the last 50 years - actively participated in covering up the Gagetown Atrocity, it will finally be known for the crime against humanity it is.
Kelly Porter Franklin, Nanaimo
What happened, why do you now only compensate for the US military's experiments in 66 &67?
It was Mr. Thompson that demanded a public inquiry into ALL the spraying that occured in CFB Gagetown from 1956 until 1984, back when it was the liberals running the Base Gagetown Fact Finders.
What happened to that "Arms lenght", indepent inquiry ?
Harper and Thompson how did you come up with this compensation package, you have limited information with many missing older files.
You said yourself "We will never know the truth".
I guess MP Keith Martin is right " the Ottawa system keeps MP's stupid and busy"!
"Mice on the treadmill".
This compensation package is unjust,distorted and a cowardly way out for you Conservatives.
I was a Canadian soldier, I was in Gagetown, I have cancer but I do not qualify. For the life of me, WHY.
Why do I have to join a class action suit against my own government? All I ever wanted is the respect one gives to its citizens for volunteering to wear the uniform of their country.
Soldiers and civilians are suffering and near death because of their government. Please Mr. Harper, don't add disrespect to their suffering.