Mr. Speaker, I had begun to talk about soldiers who during World War II were asked to participate in top secret chemical warfare experiments. It was the threat of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act and the cloak of secrecy that descended on this sorry episode of Canadian history that resulted in close to 3,000 soldiers receiving no recognition.
Those few individuals who were still alive waited almost 60 years before they received any compensation. That $50 million program was announced February 19, 2004, more than 60 years after the first experiments were conducted in 1942.
I had a veteran in my riding approach me who was a participant in those experiments. I regret to say that less than a month after that program was announced he passed away. It was left to the family to be recognized for the suffering the veteran had endured. In fact, I am told that the $50 million allocated to that program is going mostly to administration rather than to the veterans, as most are now deceased.
History has a tendency to repeat itself. As the Official Secrets Act denied those veterans benefits, it is important to ensure the same fate does not befall JTF2 soldiers.