Mr. Speaker, I rise, pursuant to Standing Order 36, to present a petition signed by 100 people from Ontario and British Columbia.
The petition states that we, the undersigned residents of Canada, draw the attention of the House to the following: that the wartime merchant navy was the fourth arm of the armed services; that veterans of the wartime merchant navy are under the Civilian War Related Benefits Act; that one in ten Canadian merchant seamen lost their lives, the highest proportional rate of all services; that merchant navy prisoners of war spend 50 months on average in imprisonment but only 30 days are recognized; that veterans of the wartime merchant navy are excluded from the War Veterans Allowance Act, from pensionable benefits, from veterans post World War II free university education, housing and land grant benefits, small business financial aid and veterans health care benefits.
Therefore your petitioners call on Parliament to consider the advisability of extending benefits or compensation to veterans of the wartime merchant navy equal to that enjoyed by veterans of Canada's World War II armed services.