"The obligation to endure gives us the right to know."
- Jean Rostand
This website was created to honour the military men and women as well as their families who have served and are serving Canada. It was also created for the civilians who were harmed by the neglect of the Canadian Department of National Defence.
For too often Canadian veterans have been treated poorly and continue to be treated poorly by self serving politicians that have no sense of the service that veterans and their families have dedicated to their country.
Agent Orange Alert is dedicated to fighting for Canadian veterans and their families. It is here to report the treatment that Canada's veterans receive.
"Agent Orange Alert" is here for the veterans and their families as well as civilians affected by DND actions.
This website was created in June 2005 shortly after the reports by the Canadian media that during 1966 and 1967 the deadly defoliant Agent Orange was sprayed at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, New Brunswick.
The Department of National Defence (DND) claimed that the U.S. military had sprayed approximately 2 1/2 barrels (589 liters) of Agent Orange for a total of seven days in the years 1966 and 1967, for "testing purposes".
Through the Access To Information Act, it was discovered that DND in fact has sprayed deadly Dioxin and Hexachorabenzene laced defoliants from 1956 to 1984. A total of over 1.3 million liters of defoliants Agent Orange, Agent Purple & Agent White containing Dioxin and Hexachlorobenzene were sprayed during that time.
In addition, approximately 1 million kilograms of dry Agent White, containing Hexachlorobenzene, were sprayed at CFB Gagetown during the same period. The Department of National Defence and federal government would only discuss the spraying that happened in 1966 and 1967. After being publicly put to task by dedicated people and this website, DND finally admitted to spraying during the other years. The Base Gagetown and Area Fact Finder Project (BGAFFP) a NON independent fact finding review was put in place by the government as a public relations exercise.
The BGAFFP was intended to look like a public inquiry but it was NOT an inquiry! The present day Veteran Affairs Minister Greg Thompson referred to it as a "public relations exercise" while he was an opposition member. The mandate of the Fact-Finding Project was to obtain facts and give those facts to the government. It was not permitted to offer suggestions to the government.
The facts are in the Access To Information documents. We the sick, the widows, the spouses and the family members who have lost loved ones know the facts. What is needed is an independent public inquiry that will allow people to come forward and tell the truth. Instead both the previous and the present federal government are doing everything possible to avoid a public inquiry. This website will watch with a critical eye the actions of the federal government and continually question the federal government's lack of action regarding the spraying. It is imperative that the federal government does what has been asked from the start ..... "DO THE RIGHT THING AND CALL FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY IMMEDIATELY"
This website will also monitor and report the actions that government takes against veterans and their families as well advocate for the civilians affected by DND neglect.
All comments and information are welcome Art Connolly
