Mr. Speaker, the Halifax Herald ran a cartoon in February 1999 of a T-shirt with a slogan “I survived Buchenwald and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”. The caption below refers to the latest efforts from veterans affairs.
Although the experience of 26 prisoners of war is certainly no laughing matter, their treatment by this callous Liberal government is a joke. On February 12, 1999 I asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs to offer these survivors of Buchenwald concentration camp a just and honest settlement. I pointed out to the minister at that time that the compensation paid by this government of barely over $1,000 each was an insult in itself.
The pathetic inability of this government to succeed where others have failed in securing just reparations from the German government is a testament to this government's misplaced priorities.
The minister had the gall to respond that these survivors were delighted. Then he seemed to contradict himself with the next statement, saying that the Canadian government had raised it again with the German chancellor.
A constituent of mine who survived the horrors of the Buchenwald concentration camp sent the cheque back to the Liberal government with the word “refused” across the insulting payoff of $1,098.
The governments of Australia and New Zealand reached a satisfactory settlement with their veterans who faced similar horrors.
These veterans were interned in the Nazi Buchenwald concentration camp instead of a prisoner of war camp where they should have been sent under the Geneva convention. Other governments have had the the ability to convince the German government to provide an appropriate reparation. Our government has failed itself and failed these brave Canadians miserably.
I do not understand the inability of the government to secure a just settlement for these Canadians. Is it a matter of incompetence or simply that the government cares little for the plight of a small handful of 26 veterans?
The Government of the United States recently arrived at an enviable settlement with Germany for United States veterans in a similar position to our veterans. In his letter to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, my constituent William R. Gibson expressed the following sentiments:
I am hopeful that the Government of Canada can still come up with a just and honourable settlement. You may be interested to see that the American government has negotiated a settlement with Germany for its veterans ranging in benefits from $10,000 to $200,000.
Perhaps even more insulting than the cheque to these Canadians from the government were the words of the Minister of Veterans Affairs in his accompanying letter. He said: “I am delighted to be able to close the chapter on this longstanding issue”.
Delighted indeed. It is now over eight years since the plight of these veterans was discussed in the January 1991 report of the subcommittee on veterans affairs entitled “It's Almost Too Late”. Over eight years later I should say that it is almost too late.
This issue was raised again in committee in August 1994 and in letters to the ministers of veterans affairs, defence and foreign affairs in 1997. I have raised this issue time after time for over a year now and the government still admits defeat where other governments have succeeded.
A letter from the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to my office admits failure with these words “Canada has embarked on several démarches requesting prisoner of war compensation from Germany, but we have had no success”.
When I attempted to get to the root of the matter in the interest of these veterans, I was told that the Liberal government abjectly refused to make public its correspondence with Germany on this issue. Why is the government afraid of exposing its ineptitude where others have succeeded?
The Liberal government should take this opportunity right now to do the honourable thing and agree before the House and all Canadians that it will immediately begin to negotiate a just settlement with these veterans and commit to succeed in finalizing appropriate negotiations with the German government.