February 1, 2000: Minister of Veterans Affairs George Baker announces a $50 million tax-free package for Canada's Merchant Navy Veterans and surviving spouses. Payments will be made to eligible Canadian merchant mariners who served during the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. The package will provide between $5,000 and $24,000 to veterans or their spouses.
Canadian Veterans Affairs has a toll-free number for Americans: 1-888-996-2242
Canadians can call toll-free 1-800-228-7441 or the TDD for the hearing impaired at 1-877-713-7640.
Refer to the Veterans Affairs Canada Web site www.vac-acc.gc.ca for information including an application form.
Canadian Merchant Navy vets win $50M compensation
By BRODIE FENLON, London Free Press Reporter, Wednesday, February 2, 2000It's about time. That's how Londoner Harvey Hollingsworth reacted yesterday after the federal government announced a $50-million compensation package for veterans of Canada's merchant navy.
The package comes a year after Harvey and his colleagues were declared full-fledged war veterans.
It's been a 55-year battle for recognition by ex-merchant mariners like Harvey, who worked on the decks of a tanker and two cargo ships ferrying military supplies to Britain in the winter of 1945.
"It took me more than 50 years just to get my Canadian Voluntary Service medal (CSVN)," said the 71-year-old retired father of two, who joined the merchant navy when he was 16.
"We did a very good job. I've lost a lot of friends and the characters I knew."
Some merchant mariners staged a hunger strike on Parliament Hill last year to demand compensation.
Mariners entered talks seeking flat payments of $20,000 for each veteran and widow with an extra $20,000 for former prisoners of war. Of the $50-million, Ottawa set aside lump-sum payments of up to $24,000 in lieu of benefits sailors did not receive before 1992.
About 7,300 merchant navy veterans and surviving spouses will be eligible for the tax-free compensation -- to be awarded in two installments based on service aboard cargo ships.
How the money breaks down:
- $20,000 for war-related service of more than two years.
- $10,000 for war-related service of six months to two years.
- $5,000 for war-related service of between one and six months, or for less than one month if captured,
killed or disabled.- An extra 20 per cent for any prisoner of war.
Canada's merchant mariners, many too young or old to serve in the military, kept Europe supplied during the Second World War. Nearly 1,500 died in the Battle of the Atlantic, a higher casualty rate than in any armed service.
Those eligible for the payout include a large number of Newfoundlanders who served in the British merchant marine before Newfoundland joined Canada.
There are 48 Korean War veterans or their widows also eligible.
But after the war, Hollingsworth was left to fend for himself. "I couldn't go to school (after the war) because they didn't give us any money," he said.
Veterans Affairs Minister George Baker called yesterday's announcement "an historic occasion" for the seamen and Canada. Ottawa is the first wartime Allied government to compensate civilian sailors for war service.
After the war, Hollingsworth sailed the world until he joined the Canadian Armed Forces as an infantryman in the early 1950s. He served in Korea and on several peacekeeping tours until he retired in 1978.
While shocked by yesterday's announcement, Hollingsworth already plans to spend his money on a "14-foot, 10-horsepower fishing boat" for a summer trailer he shares with his wife, Barbara, at Young's Point near Peterborough.
"I'm happy about that," he said laughing. "I don't have to touch the savings."
Will U.S. Merchant Marine veterans ever get this?
Not if they don't ask for it!
Not if they don't fight for it!
Not as long as the Air Force Secretary and his minions are in charge of veteran status!As he signed the GI Bill in 1944 President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated:
"I trust Congress will soon provide similar opportunities to members of the merchant marine who have risked their lives time and time again during war for the welfare of their country."
Hunger strike still on: Canadian Merchant Navy veterans under pressure to end fast
Norma Greenway, Ottawa Citizen, November 26, 1998
OTTAWA - Hunger-striking merchant-navy veterans won a promise yesterday of good medical care throughout their fast, but made no headway in their crusade to win retroactive compensation for surviving seamen from their wartime ranks.
"I'll do everything in the world to make sure that they get whatever treatment they need while on the hunger strike," visibly uncomfortable Veterans' Affairs Minister Fred Mifflin said.
The commitment came after he failed to persuade the five elderly protesters to call off the liquids-only fast that began Tuesday night at midnight.
The veterans, all in their 70s, had insisted in the runup to the hunger strike - their second since September - that this protest will last until the government commits to a cash payment or until they die of starvation.And chief spokesman Ossie MacLean stuck to that public line after the meeting with Mifflin and department officials. "I told them up there today we are up here for one thing only," said the 73-year-old former seaman. The government can either make $30,000 payout or fund his funeral expenses, he said.
But there were signs the strikers, under pressure from supporters, were looking for other face-saving outs. One option would be to suspend the protest in favour of seeking amendments to newly proposed legislation expanding benefits to all veterans, including merchant-navy seamen.
Deputy Conservative leader Elsie Wayne, an outspoken advocate of the veterans' cause, said she is unhappy with their choice of protest and has told them so. "I don't want them on a hunger strike," the New Brunswick MP said in an interview. "I told them the House will be adjourning on the 9th (of December, for Christmas) and no one will be paying any attention to them after that."The group was to make its case today to the all-party Commons committee on national defence and veterans' affairs, which will study the veterans legislation in detail after it is tabled next week in the Commons.
Cliff Chadderton, chairman of the National Council of Veteran Associations, said he hopes the hunger strikers, now that they have the attention of the government, will realize the parliamentary process "is really the way to go."
Chadderton made clear, however, there is no wavering in support for the merchant seamen.
"If they were a bunch of beefers and carpers and renegades, I wouldn't be with them," said Chadderton, whose association represents three dozen veteran groups. "I've worked 40 years in this business, helping genuine veterans' causes, and this is it."
Chadderton said veterans hope the committee will amend the legislation to include a cash payment.
Mifflin said he regrets strike but he cannot agree to the demands for a retroactive payment of up to $30,000 for 2,300 merchant-navy veterans to compensate for years of being denied the same education, employment and other benefits provided Army, Navy and Air Force veterans.
Cliff Chadderton, Canada Merchant Navy Champion
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