 |
| Art Connolly displaying his father's medals. |
|
Art Connolly is an "army brat" who along with his parents and 4 siblings lived at CFB Gagetown. He believes that his family's health has been affected by the defoliant spraying at Gagetown and continues to seek justice for those individuals who were harmed by the spraying. Art lives in London Ontario with his wife Johanne and "Freak" the cat.
__________________________________________
July 20, 2008
Mr. Thompson's Letter
( Read Mr. Thompson's letter here )
On May 31, 2008 Jim Cadger died at the age of 64. Jim was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. Jim was also a proud veteran.
In the last 3 years of Jim’s life he was a devoted and tireless advocate for the victims of defoliant sprayings at CFB Gagetown New Brunswick. His dedication and efforts to inform and assist veterans / victims became his passion.
Jim travelled throughout New Brunswick assisting veterans in completing application forms to apply for the government $20,000 ex-gratia compensation package for those harmed during the U.S military spraying of the defoliant agent orange during 1966 and 1967 at CFB Gagetown. There were times when he simply sat and listened. Jim knew how to listen.
Jim was one of those rare individuals not afraid to tell the truth nor was he afraid to confront any individual who did not tell the truth. I think this is the point where we can determine why he had little respect for politicians.
Jim had a great disdain for politicians and their less than stellar handling of the victims of CFB Gagetown’s deadly sprayings. The fact that Stephen Harper made an election promise that all victims of defoliant sprayings at CFB Gagetown would be medically tested and compensated only to renege on that promise, once elected, infuriated many victims and veterans alike. Jim was one of those infuriated.
The Liberal government in 2005, while in power, created the Base Gagetown and Area Fact Finder Project (BGAFFP) to “obtain the facts” regarding defoliant spraying at CFB Gagetown. The project was operated by the Department of National Defence so we can say in essence the accused was running the investigation.
Greg Thompson while an opposition member referred to the Base Gagetown and Area Fact Finder Project (BGAFFP) as a ..."public relations exercise by the government to keep a lid on this Agent Orange issue...". Mr. Thompson once elected and appointed as Minister of Veterans Affairs apparently changed his mind regarding the Fact Finder Project much to the dismay of the veterans he was appointed to serve.
When elected in February 2006 the newly elected Conservative government allowed the BGAFFP to continue under the same guidelines that the previous Liberal government. After so much criticism from the Conservative party they did nothing to change the BGAFFP. Nothing.
Jim had written to Veterans Affairs Canada Minister Greg Thompson and in reply received a generic email from Thompson’s office. The email basically said that his email had been received and Mr. Thompson would be made aware of your concern.
The veteran, who Minister Thompson was appointed to serve, did not receive a reply from Mr. Thompson himself. Jim Cadger’s respect for the Minister of Veteran Affairs was lost.
Although Jim Cadger did not receive correspondence from Mr. Thompson, his widow did.
Bev Cadger received a hand signed letter from Minister Thompson dated June 11, 2008.
At first glance it appears to be a genuine letter from Mr. Thompson expressing his condolences. Upon further inspection I doubt very much that Mr. Thompson sat down and composed this correspondence.
The first two paragraphs of Mr. Thompson's letter are quite generic and have the same flavour as the previously mentioned email that Jim received from Mr. Thompson's office. I would dare guess that it was written by the same ghost writer who wrote the earlier mentioned email.
The third paragraph in Mr. Thompson’s letter mentioned Jim’s involvement as an “Agent Orange Veterans Advocate”. It also said that “Your husband’s outstanding contribution and commitment to the well-being of his fellow Veterans will not be forgotten.”
Mr. Thompson is correct in that Jim and his efforts will not be forgotten especially by the veterans/voters who are disillusioned with the government’s inadequate ex-gratia compensation package.
If you look at the smeared, and lop-sided rubber stamp date on Mr. Thompson's letter you get the feeling that this letter was written for Mr. Thompson and likely sat on his desk until signed and then stamp dated.
So how did Mr. Thompson’s “heartfelt sympathy” go over? Not very well I’m afraid.
Bev Cadger said “I have received over 200 messages from authentic folks who truly cared and will genuinely miss Jim. Somehow at this late date Thompson’s letter just hit me as a mark of disrespect no matter what the wording says. Now that Jim’s voice is stilled forever Thompson perhaps feels it is OK to communicate-something he would never do when Jim was alive.
A condolence letter that made a widow feel worse.
Did I mention that I too have little respect for politicians?
- Art Connolly
___________________________________
March 2, 2008
Recent news stories of the federal Conservative Party sending “‘agents” to visit with the late British Columbia Member of Parliament (MP) Chuck Cadman in an attempt to offer him a million dollar life insurance policy should be of no surprise.
For those who are not aware Chuck Cadman, was an independent MP, who in May 2005 voted along with the then governing Liberal government in a vote of confidence, thereby preventing the fall of the Liberal government and an election. Mr. Cadman died of skin cancer two months after the same confidence vote.
It is said that the Conservative Party “agents” visited Mr Cadman two days before the vote to try and convince him to vote along with the Conservative MPs.
Some people have referred to the offer made to Mr Cadman as an “inducement” and others have referred to it as a “bribe”.
I find it odd that an organized political party would offer a million dollar life insurance policy to a dying man. Apparently the days of stuffed envelopes full of cash are gone. They must have thought that it would be an easy task to convince Mr. Cadman. Especially since he only had two days to make the decision before the actual vote.
The problem for the federal Conservative Party was that it was dealing with something outside its realm. It was dealing with an honest man. It was dealing with a man who understood the concept of doing the right thing. The Conservative Party didn’t stand a chance.
I stated in my opening statement that this behaviour should be of no surprise. This type of “behind the scenes’ activity has gone on forever. It is then denied by re-arranging the truth. You say “inducement” I say “bribe”. It is simple “Spin Doctoring 101”.
This rearranging of the truth and spin doctoring has gone on in Canadian Politics since the beginning of Canada. Just ask the victims of the Gagetown defoliant sprayings.
CFB Gagetown was sprayed with 1.3 million litres and 1 million Kgs of deadly Dixon and Hexachlorobenzene laced defoliants from 1956 to 1984 according to Department of National Defence documents. A concerted effort has been made by the victims, families and advocates to implement an inquiry into the sprayings but to no avail.
This same Conservative Party’s leader Stephen Harper stood in Woodstock New Brunswick and promised to provide medical testing and compensation to victims of toxic herbicide spraying at CFB Gagetown. Mr. Harper broke that promise (or should I say “inducement”) for the Gagetown victims to have voted Conservative in that election.
This same Conservative Party and now federal government that offered Mr. Cadman a one million dollar “inducement” to have him see things their way is offering victims of agent orange poisoning a bribe (oops…I mean inducement) of 20,000 dollars.
This same Conservative Party when elected offered an ex-gratia payment for those made sick from Agent Orange sprayed at Gagetown in 1966 and 1967 thereby ignoring the other 26 years and thousands of victims.
This same Conservative Party and all political parties need to realize that the voters of this country are sickened by the greed, dishonesty and self serving pompousness of our politicians. Politicians need to realize that the days of lies and deceit are coming to an end.
I hope that strong, honest individuals who want to serve the people and veterans of Canada will step forward to run for political office. I know many will think that I am dreaming but I have seen that it can happen. I have seen at least one honest politician. He was Chuck Cadman.
There will be other honest politicians to come.
In fact, Dona Cadman, wife of Chuck Cadman will be running for the Conservative Party of Canada in Surrey North in the next election. Yes the Conservative Party!
Mrs. Cadman deserves accolades for her honesty as well. She confirmed that the party she is running for did indeed offer her late husband the “inducement”.
It will be interesting to note whether the Conservative Party will have learned any lesson from Mr. Cadman. If not perhaps Mrs. Cadman will have a lesson or two for Mr. Harper and his “agents”.
__________________________________________
January 17, 2008
I recently spoke with a friend who is eligible for the ex gratia payment for the victims of the spraying of Agent Orange in 1966 and 1967 at CFB Gagetown New Brunswick.
This person has Type II diabetes and did live at Gagetown during the specified time period thereby fulfilling the requirements of eligibility. I know for a fact that my friend did live at Gagetown during 1966 and 1967 as the person was my neighbour.
I visited the Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) website to determine the ex gratia payment eligibility criteria necessary. The eligibility criteria are as follows:
To be eligible for the ex gratia payment, individuals must have been alive on February 6, 2006, and meet the following conditions:
- Between June 1, 1966, and February 6, 2006, the individual must have been in the process of being diagnosed with any one or more of the following medical conditions:
- chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
- soft tissue sarcoma
- non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Hodgkin's disease
- chloracne
- respiratory cancer (of the lung/bronchus, larynx or trachea)
- prostate cancer
- multiple myeloma
- early onset transient peripheral neuropathy
- porphyria cutanea tarda
- type 2 diabetes
- spina bifida;
- the individual must be diagnosed with any one or more of those medical conditions no later than April 1, 2009; and
- at any time from June to September of either 1966 or 1967 the individual or, in the case of an individual diagnosed with spina bifida, a biological parent of the individual, must have:
- worked or lived at CFB Gagetown
- been posted to or training at CFB Gagetown
or
- resided in a community of which any portion lay within five kilometres of the perimeter of CFB Gagetown.
My friend who was a child during 1966 and 1967 needs to provide “Evidence of Residency.” According to the VAC website “…acceptable evidence includes, but is not limited to: land deeds, mortgages, leases, wills, bonds, legal correspondence, water or utility records, banking records, vehicle registration, income tax returns, or church records.”
I challenge anyone to provide…..”..land deeds, mortgages, leases, wills, bonds, legal correspondence, water or utility records, banking records, vehicle registration, income tax returns…” from their childhood. There may be church records but not all families attend church.
I was pleased to see that the VAC website provided a telephone number (1-866-522-2122) where I could receive assistance. I should have known better.
I called the number provided and the person answering the phone barked “V-A-C” without identifying himself. (If anyone from VAC is reading this please be advised that it is considered quite professional for the person answering the phone to identify themselves).
I explained the situation to the” mystery man” answering the phone and explained that my friend was 10 years of age at the time and therefore doesn’t have any …” land deeds, mortgages, leases, wills, bonds, legal correspondence, water or utility records, banking records, vehicle registration, income tax returns…” to prove residency.
The “mystery man” asked about school records. My friend is able to obtain junior high school and high school records but oddly enough the elementary school (1966 and 1967) records are not available. There was no explanation as to where they have gone or why they are not available. They are just not available. Quite convenient isn’t it?.
Upon hearing this development the “mystery man” from VAC explained that it looks like my friend…. “…is outta luck”.
I decided to continue to search for more information in the hope that there must be another method to prove residency.
I revisited the Veterans Affairs Canada website and found that….” Applicants may request proof of residency with a Statistics Canada form called, "Application and Authorization for a Search of Census." The form is available from Statistics Canada (external link), and must be submitted to Statistics Canada…”
I visited the Statistics Canada website and although I am confident in my ability ( a graduate of a Business Information Systems college program and a webmaster of an internet website ) to search on a website I was unsuccessful in locating the “Application and Authorization for a Search of Census” form.
Being the “sucker for punishment” that I am I waited a day to call Veterans Affairs Canada again. I purposely waited thinking I would get an individual who might be a little kinder or more empathetic (if such a thing is possible) than my original Veterans Affairs Canada “mystery man”.
The man answering the phone on the second call also barked “V-A-C” without identifying himself. I wonder does VAC actually train them NOT to identify themselves?
I explained to him that I had been to the VAC website which referred me to the StasCan site in an attempt to find the elusive “Application and Authorization for a Search of Census."
I asked if he perhaps knew of a link to the form or where on the StatsCan site it could be located. His reply? “ I don’t know nothin’ about it”.
I am now waiting for a reply from StatsCan to assist me in obtaining the form that VAC requires.
Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence have succeeded in making this process into a difficult, time consuming, bureaucratic, “run around” that has many people giving up on applying for the compensation.
I have said from the beginning that the federal government has merely tried to make this process as difficult and unpleasant as possible. It has done what it has always done…. bewilder, bedazzle and confuse.
Government uses these tactics because these tactics work. Politicians have very little problem lying and deceiving the public in order to maintain the status quo. Politicians always have and they will contiunue to do so until such time as they are held accountable.
A full public inquiry is needed to unravel the decades of lies, deceit and immoral tactics.
Immoral tactics intended to make the Gagetown victims feel degraded and to use “VAC mystery man’s” term ...“Outta luck”
webmaster@agentorangealert.com
|
|
|