Opening Statement

Agent Orange Technical Briefing - CF Base Gagetown

Ms. Sandra Williamson
Veterans Affairs Canada

Veterans Affairs Canada Approach to Serving Veterans Concerned about Exposure to Agent Orange at CFB Gagetown

June 23, 2005

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Veterans Affairs Canada welcomes the opportunity to speak to you today about this important issue. Clearly, the spraying of Agent Orange that took place at CFB Gagetown in June 1966 and June 1967 is of great interest to the Veterans who served here and their families as well as the general public in this community and many other Canadians. Anything that has a potential impact on Veterans and their families is also of great concern to the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is particularly true when it comes to the health of Veterans.

Veterans Affairs Canada provides disability pensions to former and still serving Canadian Forces members who suffer from an illness or injury related to military service. Today, I would like to outline what the Department is doing to respond to Veterans who believe that their health may have been compromised by exposure to Agent Orange at CFB Gagetown.

Dans un premier temps, je voudrais faire écho aux propos de mon collègue de la Défense nationale quant à la priorité que nous accordons à ce dossier et rappeler que nous travaillons le plus étroitement possible avec le Ministère de la Défense nationale et d'autres ministères pour trouver la réponse la plus efficace et la plus appropriée qui soit. Nous faisons tout ce que nous pouvons, dans les limites de notre mandat, pour nous occuper de cette question.

VAC's priority is to ensure Veterans who think they may have a medical disability that is related to these test sprays or other aspects of their military service know they can contact the Department to apply for a disability pension.

A phone call to Veterans Affairs Canada is the first step in making a pension application. Veterans wishing to apply for a disability pension are asked to complete and sign an application and provide medical documentation confirming his or her diagnosis.

Once that information is received, the adjudicative process starts. This process establishes two main things: entitlement and assessment. To determine entitlement, our pension adjudicators answer the following questions based on the member's application and military service records: Is there a disability? Is the disability related to service? If so, to what extent? Is there medical evidence to support an association between the condition and military service; in this case, exposure to Agent Orange or Agent Purple.

We consider all published medical literature regarding the health effects of Agent Orange, including the findings from the US National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (the IOM). This is the scientific authority that has conducted comprehensive, science-based analysis of the health effects of Agent Orange exposure and is considered the leading expert on all herbicides sprayed in Vietnam, including Agent Orange.

Once entitlement is established, the assessment must be determined. Similar to the entitlement process, the assessment stage answers a specific question: What is the extent of the disability?

If the applicant requires assistance at any step in the process, we will provide that assistance. Survivors can also apply on behalf of deceased Veterans who they believe suffered from a medical condition associated with exposure to Agent Orange.

Our disability pension process is non-adversarial. Where there is no credible evidence to the contrary, and in keeping with our statutory obligation under the Pension Act, any doubt that arises in weighing evidence regarding a service-related illness associated with exposure, is resolved in the applicant's favour.

Once a decision is rendered, the applicant is advised in writing. There are pamphlets on display here which contain more information on how to apply, including our toll-free telephone numbers.

Our priority is to make sure Veterans and still-serving members know they can contact the department if they think they have an illness that is related to this exposure. We are working with the Department of National Defence to reach out and to encourage Veterans and members who believe they suffer from a service-related disability to make themselves known to us. Rest assured that Veterans Affairs staff are following up on the eighteen (18) names that DND has identified in their research, and we will be actively looking for more.

As part of our outreach, there is a notice on our website and in the upcoming edition of Salute!, our client newsletter with a readership of over 250,000, encouraging concerned Veterans and members to come forward. We are already seeing some success in these efforts. We have received more than 440 phone calls and approximately 300 new pension applications.

We have set up a special Review Team led by an experienced Pension Adjudicator to ensure these applications are processed as quickly as possible. In addition, this team is reviewing many cases where an unfavourable decision has been rendered. To date, we have ruled on thirty-two (32) cases. Three (3) disability pensions have been awarded - one in December 2000, the others in June 2004 and November 2004. Two of these cases involved exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. The Department is also making every effort to search our client database to identify unfavourable cases prior to 2000.

I want to emphasize that Veterans Affairs Canada is committed to being fair, flexible and reasonable in reviewing these applications. Furthermore, as is the case with any pension application, should a client be dissatisfied with his or her first decision, there are processes in place for a departmental review as well as a review or appeal to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.

In closing, I want to stress the department's commitment to Canada's Veterans and their families. VAC will continue to make this matter a priority and to encourage any Veterans who think they have an illness that is related to exposure to Agent Orange, or any aspect of their service, to contact the department and apply for a disability pension.

En terminant, je tiens à réitérer l'engagement du Ministère à l'égard des anciens combattants du Canada et de leurs familles. Nous continuerons de traiter cette question en priorité et d'encourager les anciens combattants qui croient souffrir d'une affection associée à ce type d'exposition, ou à tout autre aspect de leur service, à communiquer avec le Ministère et à présenter une demande de pension d'invalidité.

Thank you.    Merci.