Atomic veterans file lawsuit against federal government

[Oscar]

Atomic veterans file lawsuit against federal government

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Atomic+veterans+file+
lawsuit+against+federal+government/1245644/story.html

By David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen February 2, 2009

Class action lawyer Tony Merchant: 'the government has been very resistant to doing anything of a meaningful nature with atomic veterans. They're called atomic veterans, but they should be called atomic guinea pigs.'

Details of a class-action lawsuit for Canadian veterans of Cold War atomic testing was filed Monday in a Saskatchewan court as former soldiers who were subjected to nuclear blasts prepare to do battle with the federal government for compensation.

Veterans who witnessed atomic tests in the U.S. and at other locations allege that various ailments they suffer from are the result of exposure to radiation from those experiments.

“The Government made a series of false, reckless, and materially misleading representations about the extent of exposure to radiation, and the risks it posed to members of the Canadian Armed Forces,” according to the statement of claim filed Monday in the Court of the Queen’s Bench in Regina by lawyer Tony Merchant.

The lawsuit alleges the veterans were not told about the dangers of radioactivity, were not provided with protective equipment, and were not decontaminated after participating in a series of nuclear blasts. The allegations have yet to be proven in court.

Two former soldiers who witnessed atomic tests in Nevada in 1957, George Clarke of Victoria, and Arnold Clay, originally from Nipawin, Sask., but now living in Calgary, are specifically named in the court documents. But Merchant estimates the class-action lawsuit could involve several thousand Canadians, including veterans and their family members.

So far, 141 veterans or members of their families have contacted Merchant’s law firm. An estimated 900 military personnel were subjected to the atomic tests.

Last year, Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who is named in the lawsuit, announced a compensation package that would award qualified atomic veterans a $24,000 lump-sum payment.

In an e-mail, MacKay’s office said he is “very proud of the ex-gratia payment announced this past September, and being made available to former members of the Canadian Forces and certain civilian personnel who participated in nuclear-weapons testing or assisted in the decontamination of the Chalk River nuclear reactor. These ex-gratia payments will be made without proof of medical association and are available to the estates of deceased members or employees.”

An ex-gratia payment is a payment made without the giver recognizing any liability or legal obligation.

The minister declined to comment on the legal action, as it is before the courts.

In the 1980s, the U.S. government started providing financial compensation to its atomic veterans, offering those who took part in the tests a lump-sum payment of $75,000 each. For Canadian veterans, it has been an uphill battle for decades, Merchant said.

“The government has been very resistant to doing anything of a meaningful nature with atomic veterans,” Merchant said. “They’re called atomic veterans, but they should be called atomic guinea pigs.”

Merchant said the tests were staged, because various governments wanted to see whether soldiers could operate on battlefields contaminated by radiation from nuclear bombs. The veterans’ case was bolstered in 2007, when a Defence Department report determined that an estimated 900 Canadian military personnel were exposed to radiation during atomic tests, and during a reactor mishap at Chalk River, Ont., in the 1950s.

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http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Atomic+veterans+file+
lawsuit+against+federal+government/1245644/story.html