Veterans hope to negotiate better compensation package

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When First Nations veterans gather in Winnipeg in early September to consider the compensation package being offered them by Veterans Affairs, Grand Chief Howard Anderson hopes the offer in front of them is better than the one currently on the table.

The proposed compensation package, announced June 21, would see a pay-out of a maximum of $20,000 for each veteran or surviving spouse. The compensation would also be payable to the estates of veterans or their spouses if their deaths occurred after Feb. 1, 2000, the date the National Round Table on First Nations Veterans Issues began its work.

The compensation offer falls far short of the $425,000 per veteran or surviving spouse the veterans had been asking for. That figure is based on an estimate of how much a veteran could have expected to make by selling the land they were entitled to get on their return home after the war.

Anderson, who is Grand Chief of the Saskatchewan First Nations Veterans Association and chair of the First Nations veterans round table committee, said the committee members were disappointed after a July 11 meeting with Veterans Affairs to discuss details of the compensation package.

"We weren't happy," Anderson said, explaining that there was no one at the meeting from Veterans Affairs with the authority to begin negotiations on the package. There were also no negotiations before the compensation announcement was made.

"There was no communication. All he (Veterans Affairs Minister Dr. Rey Pagtakham) did was phone me . . . on the 21st of June and said 'We're offering you $20,000, and we'll be doing it today. We'll be bringing it to Parliament.' So there was no negotiation about what we should be doing. It was a cut and dried thing before even we got into it," Anderson said.

While there has been no indication from Veterans Affairs that the proposed compensation package is up for negotiation, Anderson hopes the department will be willing to take part in further discussions.

Meanwhile, plans are being made to give the veterans and widows of veterans a chance to discuss the offer and decide how to proceed.

"We're having another meeting in September to try and get all of the veterans together and say, 'Okay, what do you think?'" Anderson said. "The round table said we'll leave it to the veterans and the widows and the spouses, for them to say yes or no or otherwise. In the meantime, we'll keep plugging away and see what we can do."

In addition to monetary compensation, the veterans are also hoping to get an apology from the government. "Not of being in the war, but of the treatment we got when we came back," Anderson explained.

Although Veterans Affairs is offering First Nations veterans compensation, the department has not admitted any wrongdoing by the government against First Nations veterans. The press release issued by the Veterans Affairs on June 21 states that the compensation offer is "based on compassionate grounds, and not on the basis of any liability on the part of the government of Canada."