Health problems plague Mohawk peacekeeper

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Veterans of past wars came home with wounds they received in battle with the enemy, but one First Nation warrior was attacked and wounded by an unseen foe while serving with a peacekeeping mission in 1993.

Master Corporal Philip Tobicoe, 36, a Mohawk from Ontario, has developed several health problems that he's certain are the effects of being exposed to soil and water contaminated by toxic chemicals in Croatia.

"I've got glaucoma and cataracts," Tobicoe said. "My skin is badly rashed and my joints are very sore. I think I've got arthritis."

Tobicoe said the Canadian government admits peace-keepers serving with the Canadian contingent to United Nation forces may have been exposed to highly toxic chemicals, including PCBs.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are man-made chemicals used as coolants and lubricants in older transformers and other electrical equipment. Medical research has linked PCBs to medical disorders from skin rashes to cancer.

PCBs can be absorbed into the body by breathing contaminated air, drinking contaminated water and through contact with contaminated soil.

Tobicoe said they were constantly exposed to the soil when digging trenches, filling sandbags and breathing dust raised by their vehicles. Because PCBs are odorless and tasteless, he was unaware that he was drinking contaminated water.

"It [the water] looked good to me but I was told later on that it was not suitable to drink," Tobicoe said. "It didn't bother me 'til years afterwards."

He said when he first approached the army about his condition he was told that it was all in his head. Since then he has contacted others who served in Croatia and discovered that, among other medical problems, four of them have cancer. In August, the federal government and the military established a board of inquiry to conduct an investigation into the health problems.

"They said post-traumatic stress caused everything," Tobicoe said. "Post-traumatic stress doesn't cause cancer."

Tobicoe joined the forces when he was 22 years old, but he said he knew as a little boy, that he would someday join the army.

Unfortunately, his medical problems have ended his dreams for a career in the military.

"My big goal was to eventually be a sergeant and train people," he said. "However, as soon as my eyes went, I knew then and there my career was over."

Tobicoe has had 11 eye surgeries in two years and he's receiving treatment from five doctors for his other health problems, as well for post-traumatic stress syndrome. The army will pick up his tab while he's still in the service, but not if his problems force him to resign before he qualifies for a basic pension for 20 years of service. If he has to leave early, he will only be reimbursed for the amount he has contributed to the pension fund since his enlistment.

A reimbursement would not be enough to meet his medical costs of about $2,000 a month. He works at the Museum of the Regiments in Calgary as a collections assistant, but he realizes his prospects for employment outside the army are all but non-existent.

"I've got limited eyesight and my mobility is not that great," Tobicoe said. "I'm not in the best of health and I wouldn't be looking to much of a future."

He needs a full disability pension, but so far his applications have been rejected twice. He appealed the rejections, but his appeals were denied.

Tobicoe said his troubles have helped him understand what Aboriginal veterans went through after returning from the First and Second World Wars and Korea.

"I attended one of their First Nations veterans conferences and they're still fighting for their rights," he said. "A lot of people didn't get compensated. A lot of people didn't get the benefits like they should have."

Despite the hardship he's enduring, Tobicoe doesn't regret enlisting in the army and serving as a peacekeeper.

"I'd do it again, " he said.

Whether or not the Canadian government and the army display the same sense of duty by rewarding him for his serice, at least by granting him a disability pension, remains to be seen.