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| Paul Thompson |
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Born in 1947 at Saint John, N.B., Paul was the eldest of a family of six children. Their father was a member of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps and they lived in the Oromocto PMQ area from 1956 to 1960.
He joined the Canadian Army on 31 October 1966 and was a member of the 1st Batallion of the Black Watch (RHR) of Canada at Camp Gagetown (now CTC Gagetown) until his unit disbanded in 1970. He was then posted to the 1st Royal Canadian
Regiment (RCR) in London, Ont. He served 4 years in Baden Germany with the 3rd Mechanized Commandos from 1973 to 1977, remustering to Military Police and returning to London in that year. In 1981 he was posted back to CFB Gagetown until 1987, when he was finally posted to Halifax, Nova Scotia. During his military career, he served on two Peace Keeping Missions to Cyprus and was seconded to External Affairs where he served in war torn Lebanon in 1984 and 1985. Paul retired from the Canadian Armed Forces at Halifax in July 1991.In December of 1970 though, he believed his career would be short lived, as he suddenly went blind in his left eye at age 23.
Examinations by specialists in London, Ont., concluded that he was suffering from the first signs of demyelinating disorder. DND Medical personnel never disclosed this information nor treated him for his affliction, therefore the disease was allowed to progress unchecked for the duration of his career. In addition to MS, Paul also suffers from Graves Disease, Peripheral Neuropathy and he and his wife lost their first child in 1969 to a molular pregnancy
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January 22, 2008
People who have been impacted by diseases, disorders and dysfunctions, know full well the incredible problems they face coping in everyday life. Ours is not the perfect world and for us that do have to contend with our imperfections, we must from time to time also deal with those who persecute and discriminate against us because of those imperfections.
I would like to share an example of government discrimination in dealing with my particular situation; however I truly understand my ordeals are not unique and may be somewhat placid compared to that of others.
I have a 25 year military background, from 1966 to 1991, serving 10 years of my career at CFB Gagetown. There is no doubt in my mind the Federal Government of Canada and its Department of National Defense poisoned me and my family. It poisoned us with millions of liters and pounds of some of the most toxic and lethal chemicals known to man. The fact that this was kept secret by the perpetrators and was denied to have ever happened for 50 years, further punctuates the callousness of the people responsible.
Along with thousands of other soldiers and their families, I became a statistic, burdened with chronic diseases beginning in 1970. The first disease, Multiple Sclerosis, is a disease created as a result of a corrupted immune system, and the second, Graves Disease, is also an auto-immune disorder, both of which I attribute to exposure to the yearly Gagetown Defoliation program.
I was a combat soldier for the first ten years of my military life and as such I operated military vehicles of various types including the M113 family of armored fighting vehicles. The Lynx, a fully tracked, light armored recon vehicle was one of those vehicles which I was awarded certificates for thousands of kilometers of safe driving during my four year posting to Germany. The truth is I had Multiple Sclerosis back then!
In February 2007, my Nova Scotia Class 5 Drivers License became due for renewal. While going through the renewal process, an employee of Access Nova Scotia noticed I was wearing an occulated prism over the left lens of my eyeglasses. I could have lied about the reason; however I chose not to and fully explained the problem to her. On 2 March 2007, I received a letter from the Medical Section of the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) department advising that I was required to submit a vision report to be completed by an ophthalmologist or optometrist by 2 May 2007, or lose my license. Under the circumstances I understood the reason(s), after all safety is of paramount concern.
Once I submitted the doctors’ report and it was reviewed by the medical authorities of the NSMVA department that should have been the end of the matter, as there was nothing in the report that would have jeopardized my holding a driver’s license. Such was not the case.
On 19 April 2007; I again received a demand from the Deputy Registrar of Motor Vehicles to immediately submit a Medical Report completed and signed by my family doctor, or I would lose my driver’s license. I complied and once again there was nothing detrimental to my possessing a driver’s license, all of this of course was on my dime.
This would have satisfied the most scrupulous and demanding of people and told them that they were barking up the wrong tree, but NOT the government my friends. On 28 May 2007, I was again told by the Nova Scotia Deputy Registrar of Motor Vehicles, that although the information submitted on my behalf indicated I met the Medical Standards to hold a Class 5A license, a further Medical Report would be due by November 2009.
I can see no closure in this scenario whatsoever, other than legal action against the province of Nova Scotia based on their perception that I am unfit to operate a motor vehicle safely and possibly an age discrimination factor. Their concerns might be well founded if my driving abstract showed reason for concern; however I have never had a traffic ticket or an accident. I was always under the assumption it is your doctor’s duty to report health issues that would affect a person’s ability to operate a motor vehicle safely to the proper authorities.
My point is that there appears to be continual abuse in one form or another, by government at all levels, against citizens who have committed no crime. It is the governments who have and continue to commit the crimes, yet we are the persecuted.
Paul Thompson
paulthompson@agentorangealert.com
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January 13, 2008
Of the many negative issues that have happened in Canada in the past 52 years, I would have to say the betrayal and callousness of our government against its own soldiers and their families, here in our own country, far outweighs the most hideous crimes imaginable. The people who were inadvertently targeted for death or life long illnesses by our successive governments, (either Liberal or Conservative from 1956 to the present), at CFB Gagetown, were loyal, hard working and honest citizens, dedicated to their country and their families.
Even today countless members of the Armed Forces and veterans alike cannot bring themselves to imagine an atrocity of this magnitude being perpetrated against them by the Department of National Defense and Ottawa. Whether by accident or by design, what has been done is nothing short of criminal and those responsible must be brought to justice.
Unlike Viet Nam, the Gagetown issue is unique, as Gagetown is not located in a foreign country, was not occupied by a foreign army conducting hostilities against Canada and was never considered a war zone, yet the same heinous chemicals were used liberally by our government to eradicate my family, friends and comrades by the hundreds. They were fellow soldiers, who as I have mentioned were fiercely loyal and patriotic to Canada, however it did not stop this country from destroying them, because politicians owe no allegiance to soldiers.
The present day government of Canada understands fully what has transpired over the course of 50 years at CFB Gagetown and they have elected to ignore 99.9% of the devastating effects. They have in essence become part of the problem, (cover-up and denial), rather than finding a proper solution, (doing the right thing). Stephen Harper’s “New Conservative Government” has failed the many thousands of victims of Gagetown and to this day he has not fulfilled one promise he made to them.
On the other hand, Harper has admitted Ottawa’s guilt and wrong doing by allowing his Minister of Veterans Affairs Greg Thompson to offer an ex gratia payment of $20,000 to a limited few. This insufficient gesture will certainly be well received by the on going Class Action Law Suit against the government. Unfortunately however, none of this political posturing will truly benefit the victims of what can only be described as “Canada's Man Made Hell.”
In 2005, I was invited to join the Agent Orange Association of Canada, (AOAC), by the Webmaster of this site, Mr. Art Connolly. Art was the Vice President of AOAC at the time and I was truly honoured. The information I received concerning the Gagetown issue was absolutely astounding, I could not believe we knew as much as we did and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people of that organization for their help, information and support.
On 4 January 2008, I resigned from AOAC as I felt the President of the group was becoming autocratic and self perpetuating. In my military career, my family and I were chemically poisoned; we were lied to by my superior officers and totally kept in the dark as to what was happening to us. I could not allow that situation to repeat itself and I truly believe battles are seldom won on multiple fronts.
They say there is a silver lining in every cloud and my family and I are probably fortunate to have survived the "Killing Fields" of Gagetown. I attribute this to former Prime Minster Pierre Trudeau disbanding the Black Watch in 1970. Members of the unit were given the option to stay in Gagetown or to be posted out and I chose the latter. This simple action, took us away from the cesspool of chemicals dumped on the land for a period of eleven years, although we had already been exposed, at least it gave our bodies time to somewhat heal before we returned. Anyone who served in the Gagetown area or was a dependant during the years of heaviest defoliation, (1956 to 1984) never knew what was being done to them. It was Ottawa's dirty little secret!
Today the surviving victims of Gagetown are well informed and although they are ill from their ordeal, many will continue to survive long enough to see justice prevail. Our government is ultimately responsible, regardless of what kind of spin they try and put on it, Ottawa will pay dearly for what they have done
Paul Thompson
paulthompson@agentorangealert.com
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