DATE: February 19, 2004 - 3:45 p.m.

LOCATION: National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa

PRINCIPAL(S): Colonel Walter Semianiw, Human Resources Military
Bernard Butler, Director, Disability Pension Operation Directorate, Veterans Affairs Canada
Nancy Paradis, Canadian Forces Legal Advisor

SUBJECT: Officials of the Department of National Defence Will Give a Media Briefing on the Payment to Veterans for Chemical Testing Experiments

Moderator: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen et bienvenu au ministère de la Défense nationale. My name is Captain Holly Apostellic (ph) and in a few minutes we'll be commencing the information session on the recognition program for chemical warfare agent testing. Avant de commencer j'aimerais vous donner un aperçu de la façon de la séance d'information sur le programme de reconnaissance des expériences des guerres chimiques se déroula cet après-midi. We are privileged to have with us this afternoon Colonel Walter Seminaniw representing the Assistant Deputy Minister for Human Resources Military, Mr. Bernard Butler, Director of the Disability Pension Operation Directorate, Department of Veterans Affairs and Miss Nancy Paradis for the Canadian Forces Legal Advisor. For Colonel Walter Semianiw, his name is spelled Walter W-a-l-t-e-r, Semianiw, S-e-m-i-a-n-i-w. For Mr. Bernard Butler his name is spelled Bernard B-e-r-n-a-r-d, Butler B-u-t-l-e-r. For Miss Nancy Paradis her name is spelled Nancy N-a-n-c-y, Paradis P-a-r-a-d-i-s. Colonel Semianiw will speak first on the recognition program for chemical warfare agent testing followed by Mr. Butler who will speak about pension aspects of the program relating to Veterans Affairs. Miss Paradis will be available to address legal issues relating to the program. Nous allons commencer par un court exposé du Colonel Walter Semianiw qui représente le sous-ministre adjoint des Ressources militaires et de monsieur Bernard Butler, directeur des Directions des opérations des pensions d'invalidité, département des Anciens combattants sur le programme de reconnaissance et d'expériences de guerres chimiques. We will then open the floor to questions. Colonel Seminaniw?

Col. Walter Semianiw : Thanks Holly. Hello and good afternoon. The purpose of our information session today is to provide you with further details on the announcement made earlier today by the Minister of National Defence and the Minister of Veterans Affairs. Comme vous le savez déjà, les ministres ont annoncé aujourd'hui que ils ont reçu l'approbation du gouvernement pour la création du programme de reconnaissance pour les anciens combattants canadiens qui ont participé des expériences de guerres chimiques. First let me take a moment to explain some of the history of this subject. During the Second World War driven by wartime urgency, Canada like other powers at the time set out to build effective defences and counter-measures to what was at the time a very real threat of the use of chemical weapons. As part of that important process members of the Canadian military were utilized on a volunteer basis as test subjects for mustard gas and other chemical warfare agents. A chemical warfare experimentation took place at two locations, the Defence research facility at Suffield, Alberta and at the Chemical Warfare Laboratory here in Ottawa. Although records from the time are incomplete and imperfect, our best current estimate is that approximately 3,500 people were involved in these experiments. There was initially a great deal of secrecy surrounding these experiments and rightfully so recalling that Canada was at the time at war. Secrecy continued for some time after the war but it's safe to say that knowledge of the experiments was no longer a secret after the early 1970s and the use of human volunteers as test subjects had been made public since the late 19780s. In addition to government disclosure on the subject, the story of the chemical test veterans has been the subject of at least one book, a documentary film and numerous news items in newspapers and on television or radio over the past many years. Nonetheless, some veterans who participated in chemical warfare experiments have commented that they felt constrained in coming to seek benefits due to secrecy conditions at the time of the tests. Given this, we'd like to reassure today all veterans who may have been involved in chemical warfare experiments that secrecy conditions no longer apply for purposes of talking to government representatives for seeking benefits. So that's a quick look at the history. Now to today's announcement. As the Ministers announced earlier today, this initiative is all about recognition for Canada's chemical test veterans and the payment is only one form of recognition among the two others, that being pension disability benefits if they are entitled to them and finally the aspect of recognition and the payment. For example, Ministers Pratt and McCallum in their statement made a point of recognizing veterans for their service to their fellow soldiers and their service to Canada. La partie financière du programme est simple, nous offrons à chaque combattant admissible un paiement à titre gracieux de 24,000 dollars en reconnaissance de leur service à leur pays. Who is eligible? We have two basic criteria for eligibility for payment under the program. To qualify you must meet the following simple criteria, you must have served as a member of the Canadian military and volunteered to be a human test subject in chemical warfare experiments at Suffield, Alberta from 1941 to the mid-1970s although the testing did take place mainly during the Second World War or the Chemical Warfare Laboratories here in Ottawa from 1941 to 1945. We have established an office at the Department of National Defence with full-time dedicated staff to expedite payments for the chemical warfare test participants and for those eligible veterans to Veterans Affairs Canada for pension follow-up. However, more about pensions and pension coverage in a moment from my colleague from Veterans Affairs. The office was up and running as of 1:30 today and the project manager, Colonel Brian Sutherland, is here with us today. It should be also noted that we've already received calls on our 1-800 numbers which were manned as of 1:30 to receive calls from veterans who had heard the announcement and wanted to respond. The application process will be fairly simple and straightforward, will focus on the veterans, will include a provision for appeals. Veterans who think they are eligible are encouraged to initiate the application process by calling toll-free 1-800-883-6094, that is 1-800-883-6094 from Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. However, for this evening we're keeping the lines open longer since it is the first day for the program. Or veterans can get a hold of us by e-mailing From there the veteran will be sent an application form which once returned will allow the staff here at the Department of National Defence to check the applicant's information against research data to determine eligibility. The telephone and e-mail information is also in the media's kits that we're distributing here today and we encourage the media to assist us in our efforts to reach out to eligible veterans in this matter. Le processus de demande sera simple et facile, sera axé sur les anciens combattants et prévoira la possibilité de faire des appels. Les anciens combattants qui pensent être admissibles sont encouragé à lancer le processus de demande en composant le numéro sans frais 1-800-883-6094. Encore une fois, 1-800-883-6094 du lundi au vendredi, de 8h00 à 16h00 ou en faisant parvenir une courielle à l'adresse Les anciens combattants recevront ensuite un formulaire de demande lequel permettra au ministère de la Défense nationale de vérifier les renseignements donnés par les demandeurs à la lumière des données de recherche afin de déterminer leur admissibilité. Le numéro de téléphone et l'adresse Internet sont disponibles dans la trousse aux médias que nous distribuons aujourd'hui. Nous encourageons les médias à nous aider dans notre effort d'entendre des anciens combattants admissibles à ce programme. Based on our best estimate and the number of eligible participants, the programme is expected to cost approximately 50 million dollars in total for payments and administration. It is true that this is a significant sum but fiscal concerns must always be weight against doing the right thing. Everything worth doing comes with a price and this is a price of fully acknowledging the exceptional efforts of those veterans who participated in Suffield and Ottawa as part of the chemical test agent experimentation during the war in Suffield and Ottawa as stated. I'll now turn things over to my colleague at Veterans Affairs Canada, Mr. Bernard Butler who serves that organization as Director of Pension Operations. Mr. Butler will explain the role of Veterans Affairs Canada with regards to today's announcement. Thank you. Mr. Butler?

Bernard Butler : Thank you Colonel. Good afternoon everyone, bonne après-midi à tous. My role here today is to provide you simply with a brief overview of Veterans Affairs Canada's disability pension program. Veterans Affairs Canada exists to serve those people who have served our country. We are currently providing disability pensions to approximately 166,000 Canadians totalling 1.57 billion dollars in payments for this fiscal year. As the Ministers announced earlier today, the payment of 24,000 dollars will be in addition to any disability pension benefits that the veteran might be eligible to receive. Anciens Combattants Canada a toujours accepté les demandes de fonctions présentées par ces anciens combattants. À l'heure actuelle, ACC verse des pensions d'invalidité à un certain nombre de ces anciens combattants. Nous encourageons tous ceux qui croient souffir d'une infection ou ont droit à une pension liée à leur service à communiquer avec nous. For those veterans already in receipt of a VAC pension, I'd like to make them aware that this announcement will not affect their current pension status. They will continue to receive that as usual. Other veterans interested in contacting Veterans Affairs Canada regarding pension issues should call toll-free 1-866-522-2122, that's our English service or 1-866-522-2022 which is our French service to make an application for disability benefits. Les anciens combattants qui veulent communiquer avec nous concernant une demande de pension d'invalidité devraient appeller au 1-866-522-2122 service anglais ou 1-866-522-2022 service en français. Veterans Affairs Canada is committed to handling these inquiries quickly and compassionately. The department will expedite any new or current disability claims related to the issues that we're discussing today. It should be noted that some of the most common conditions claimed as a result of chemical testing include pulmonary conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or skin conditions such as dermatitis, actinicarotosis and burn scarring. De concert avec le ministère de la Défense nationale, Anciens Combattants Canada se forcera de communiquer avec les anciens combattants qui présentent une demande d'indemnisation afin de leur savoir qu'ils peuvent présenter une demande de pension, le cas échéant. Cette campagne de sensibilisation conjointe comprend notamment de la publicité, des articles dans des publications cibles et de la publicité directe à l'intention des anciens combattants que nous pourrons retracer. Now onto to some more specific information on the VAC or Veterans Affairs Canada pension process. In general, a disability pension is a monthly tax-free amount the rate of which is tied to the degree of pensionable disability and the connection of the disability to service. Currently the monthly pension rate varies from approximately 100 to 2,000 dollars a month for a single veteran when the disability is deemed to be fully service related. Additional pension is paid if the veteran has a spouse and also if there are dependent children. Disability pensions are paid retroactive to the date of application or three years prior to the date of the decision to award a pension whichever is later. Veterans who receive a disability pension will also qualify for health care benefits related to their pension disability. To apply for a pension, the veteran should contact the Department of Veterans Affairs. Staff can provide information and help with the preparation of applications and it should also be noted that our veterans organizations are happy to help as well in this regard. If it is determined that the claimed condition is connected to service, Veterans Affairs Canada awards a pension based on the degree of disability as determined from the available medical information. At that time, the pension decision is communicated directly to the claimant and any veteran who disagrees with a decision has a right to appeal. Veterans Affairs Canada is committed to quick and efficient service once an application for disability pension is completed and all the necessary medical and other information in support of that claim is submitted. Veterans Affairs endeavours to provide the applicant with a decision within 18 weeks. Thank you.

Moderator: As we have no questions from the floor that concludes our information session. Merci pour votre participation. Thank you for watching on channel 59 and those on our 1-800 line.

Web link: Media Briefing