Further to the St Stephan NB Protest Rally to take place on the 19th. of May at 2:00 P.M. where we will be presenting Greg Thompsons Office with a demand to call for a full Public and Judicial Inquiry into the Gagetown Atrocity.

If Ottawa does not initiate this Inquiry forcefully Requested at St. Stephen we will once again march, this time on Ottawa.

If necessary: The Ottawa Protest Rally will take place on Parliament Hill beginning at 12:30 P.M. sharp on July 1st. 2009 (Canada Day)


Both Protest Rallies are to draw Canada's attention to the 28 year toxic chemical spraying program of Agent Orange, Agent Purple and Agent White at CFB Gagetown NB and to the devastating Military and Civilian medical causalities derived from their miss-use and over-use of these toxic chemicals for more then 28 years.

A public inquiry is needed because all governments for the past 50 years have not bothered to tell Canadians the truth about Gagetown, for some reason Gagetown chemical use has been a better kept secret then the H-bomb tests, and maybe, just because both the Liberal and Conservative Parties are dead set against it when they seem to have found over $14 million to find out about $300,000 and a past PM, which may or may not be of any interest and where there were no causalities.


Everyone is invited to come and join us on the Hill, Veterans, Legion members and Civilians are all invited weather you have been harmed by these chemicals or not, you will be appreciated.

This needs to be done and what better day and place then the day which many soldiers have fought and died to accomplish, Canada Day and at our very own seat of Government, The House of Parliament.

So far on the RCR Forum under Polls of interest.

A wopping 91.3% of those who answered have spent time in Gagetown.
while 8.7% were never in Gagetown.

A full 54.5 % have some medical conditions which might be from Chemicals.
While 45.5% have no ill effects yet.

Although these numbers are taken from a somewhat small responce but we hope that more people will participate.

These numbers are however approximately what I was expecting as almost all soldiers trained in Gagetown and around half may well be sick because of it.
Keep voteing in the polls guys and gals.

Kenneth H Young wrote:
Further to the St Stephan NB Protest Rally to take place on the 19th. of May at 2:00 P.M. where we will be presenting Greg Thompsons Office with a demand to call for a full Public and Judicial Inquiry into the Gagetown Atrocity.

If Ottawa does not initiate this Inquiry forcefully Requested at St. Stephen we will once again march, this time on Ottawa.

If necessary: The Ottawa Protest Rally will take place on Parliament Hill beginning at 12:30 P.M. sharp on July 1st. 2009 (Canada Day)


Both Protest Rallies are to draw Canada's attention to the 28 year toxic chemical spraying program of Agent Orange, Agent Purple and Agent White at CFB Gagetown NB and to the devastating Military and Civilian medical causalities derived from their miss-use and over-use of these toxic chemicals for more then 28 years.

A public inquiry is needed because all governments for the past 50 years have not bothered to tell Canadians the truth about Gagetown, for some reason Gagetown chemical use has been a better kept secret then the H-bomb tests, and maybe, just because both the Liberal and Conservative Parties are dead set against it when they seem to have found over $14 million to find out about $300,000 and a past PM, which may or may not be of any interest and where there were no causalities.


Everyone is invited to come and join us on the Hill, Veterans, Legion members and Civilians are all invited weather you have been harmed by these chemicals or not, you will be appreciated.

This needs to be done and what better day and place then the day which many soldiers have fought and died to accomplish, Canada Day and at our very own seat of Government, The House of Parliament.

Although this Protest is primarily for the CFB Gagetown Toxic Chemical issue, veterans with any issue such as SISIP clawback, VIP, Chalk River, Suffield, or the new Veterans Act and pension, please feel free to attend and shout out for the rights of Veterans. It is high time that all veterans once again stood together on the battle line but this time for ourselves. If we Veterans don't stand up and be counted, Ottawa will trample up down and we shall be forgotten.

When you think of the few dollars they save by clawing our pensions back when we turn age 65 and the chemicals which Ottawa hasn't even admitted to, when we think of our new disabled veteran brothers who will now only receive what amounts to 7.5 years of our old pension would have paid them and then we look at Ottawa calling for Inquiries to find out who might have had their fingers in the pot in the Schreiber/Mulroney case at a cost of over $14 million dollars to find out about $300,000, we Veterans need to put Ottawa back in line. We need to put the Genie back in the bottle, Ottawa has gone off topic and is no longer working for the people.

And isn't that what we signed up to do? Protect Canada.
See you all in Ottawa. Bring your own Placards and posters.

miramichileader.canadaeast.com/news/article/623859

Former Miramichier to be part of documentary on Gagetown

Published Friday April 3rd, 2009

By Corinna Yates
news@miramichileader.com

MIRAMICH - Richard Trevors is finally getting the recognition he has been fighting for over the last several years.

Trevors, who has been plagued with health problems most of his adult life, has been fighting National Defense Department for answers on the herbicide spraying that took place at CFB Chatham from 1959 to 1988.

Since a story that was published on Trevors in the Miramichi Leader back in January the former of Douglasfield resident who now lives in Riverview, he has become a member of the AOAC (Agent Orange Association of Canada).

An organization that he had not previously been aware of.

"I received a call from Sandy Skipton, president of the association, and Art Connolly who created the Agent Orange alert website. An information site to give information about herbicide spraying at Gagetown." Said Trevors.

"They were more than surprised about the work I had done myself on researching and getting information from the government," said Trevors.

In February he became a member of the AOAC and has since become involved in a documentary being made on Gagetown.

The documentary is being made by a film crew from New York who took an interest in the story because of their director Danny Feighery. Gregg de Domenico producer and director of photography, who has been working in the film industry for 10 years, said "Danny has been personally affected by this as well."

Feighery's grandfather was at the base in Gagetown as military police officer and his mother grew up on the base. He was born in Toronto and now resides in Yonkers, New York.

De Domenico said wanted this story to be told.

"People need to know what's happened here and the story has to be told," said de Domencio.

"We will be going to CFB Chatham in the near future to film where Trevors grew up," he added.

The documentary crew is self-funded and the aim is to get a rough copy of the documentary cut for June 5 to enter it into the Toronto film Festival.

Trevors, who was interviewed for the documentary Tuesday at his home in Riverview, is pleased with the coverage he has gotten since his story was first published.

"So many people have called me and sent me emails," said Trevors.

He said he is finally getting the help and support that he has been looking for and has since done interviews with other media outlets.

The AOAC held an evening of Awareness at the K.C. Irving Theatre in Fredericton on March 29. The event featured many guest speakers such as Sandy Skipton, Art Connolly, Gloria Paul — a survivor of the London Blitz and a recipient of the 2007 YMCA Peace Medallion for co-founding pilgrim House.

David Coon executive director for the conservation council of New Brunswick was also in attendance.

"It takes courage to put yourself out in front of the media, to speak truth, to seek truth and to question authority," Coons said "Its devastating when we realize that trust has been betrayed as it has in this case."

Trevors, who was also in attendance along with the film crew at the event, said he is not going to stop fighting for a cause he so strongly believes in. He said he is gaining more support and information every day.

"This just didn't happen in Gagetown, it has happened in Chatham as well," he said referring to the former military base in Miramichi.

"People need to come forward and not be afraid to speak their minds."

bugleobserver.canadaeast.com/entertainment/article/623806

A war not yet won

Published Friday April 3rd, 2009

A Woodstock woman and member of the ‘Military Widows on the Warpath' is fighting for justice and fairness from the federal government

By Lauren Kennedy

Gwen Knox knows that what lies ahead is a tough and lengthy battle but she swears she will never stop trying to win.

PHOTO BY LAUREN KENNEDY

Gwen Knox has been looking for answers for years regarding the mysterious illnesses that struck her first husband and took his life at 57. She believes exposure to Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals was the ultimate cause of the early death of her husband. Knox wears an orange ribbon as a symbol of the fight for justice.



PHOTO BY LAUREN KENNEDY

Gwen Knox looks over photos of her first husband in his military days. She points him out in a picture taken during one of his first days on the job.



PHOTO BY LAUREN KENNEDY

Gwen Knox goes through old medical records concerning her late husband.



PHOTO BY GLENNA HANLEY/DAILY GLEANER

'Military Widows on a Warpath' demonstrated Wednesday in front of the main gate to CFB Gagetown.

She is part of a group called ‘Military Widows on a Warpath' made up of women who lost their husbands due to what they believe was exposure to Agent Orange, Agent Purple and other toxic chemical herbicides sprayed at Canadian Forces Base (CF Gagetown in the 1960s.

Together, this group is fighting for compensation under the tight restrictions placed on payments when the federal government announced a one-time lump-sum payment of $20,000 in 2007, paid to the wives of those soldiers who contracted health problems due to the defoliants.

Unfortunately for Knox, she is one of the many widows who, in her words, the government has ignored.

"My (first) husband died in 1980 at the young age of 57," she explained. "I thought for sure they (government officials) would consider me but they didn't, we (the widows) are non-existent."

Her late husband Murray Clark, who she was married to at the age of 18, was a solider in the Second World War and continued on with military life until his retirement in 1972.

For most of his military career he was stationed at CFB Gagetown in the artillery sector and eventually Knox and their seven children moved from their farm in Lindsay to Oromocto to be with him.

Knox recalls days when Clark came home from the ranges covered in what she now knows as the Agent Orange spray.

"He would come home soaking wet with the spray, his clothes would be just brown, wet and it smelled terrible, but we didn't think anything of it at the time."

As Clark neared retirement, the military doctors gave him a clean bill of health. It was a year later, in 1973, that Knox noticed he was experiencing illnesses which she, nor the doctors at the time, could understand.

Knox watched helplessly as her husband deteriorated before her eyes, and one night in 1980, he passed away in a veteran's hospital in Halifax at the age of 57 from melanoma and cancer of the central nervous system.

"He would never really complain but we knew his system was all messed up and he had every problem you could think of," remembered Knox with a tear in her eye.

On a hunch she kept all of the medical records that had to do with Clark's health.

"I knew there was a reason and I didn't know why at the time, but I kept them. I just knew there had to be another reason for him to die at the age of 57."

The restrictions placed on the compensation package offered by the federal government included a clause, among others, limiting payment to those people still living as of Feb. 6, 2006.

"Could I have helped that he died before the date that these people (government officials) wanted? All of these men where in the same area at the same time," she said. "The ones that lived got payment, the ones that died got forgotten."

On Wednesday, Military Widows on a War Path marched outside the gates of CFB Gagetown protesting the fact they have been left out of the compensation program. While Knox was unable to be among the 15 widows carrying signs in front of the Base Gagetown entrance, she stands in solidarity with them and the other military widows fighting for fairness.

At this point she does not know exactly when or if this fight will ever end, but she says that she can't and won't stop on her quest for justice.

"I guess we (the widows) haven't figured it out yet what we're going to do next, but I know that we will keep on going, our story is far from over and it's time it was told," she said. "It's going to be a long battle, but I'm a good fighter and I have good cause."

timestranscript.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/623075

Gagetown widows merit compensation

Published Thursday April 2nd, 2009

Wednesday a group called Military Widows on a Warpath demonstrated in Oromocto at the gates to Camp Gagetown to protest their exclusion from federal compensation for victims of chemical spraying at the military base between 1956 and 1967, including use of Agent Orange. Their pleas should be heeded.

Ottawa put an arbitrary and unfair deadline on payment of claims and an arbitrary cutoff date for compensation. Victims had to have died after 2006 or no compensation will be paid. If they died earlier, and many did, their families are out of luck. Ottawa is abdicating its responsibility to its own citizens whom it allowed to be harmed in the first place, whether from deliberate action, negligence or pure ignorance.

We are regularly asked by our government to support our troops, yet it won't support the families of troops harmed in the past. That's wrong.

Canada is spending many millions to train a police force in Kandahar, Afghanistan in a dubious effort to make the city and its province secure; an effort that has produced no significant results and may never do so. If we can do that, surely the government can accept its moral duty and fairly compensate families that suffered harm from its own chemical spraying. If we don't first take proper care of those who served our country in the past, why should today's troops have any faith Canada will support them when it matters most?

www.lfpress.com/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=27...Active&s=letters

government
Whose rights are we fighting for?
Isn't it a card that on the very same day (April 1st.) that Ottawa has decided to halt all rights and freedoms for Gagetown veterans and civilians who were killed and maimed by Ottawa, MP's all over Ottawa are screaming about the rights and freedoms being suspended for Afghani women?

In less than a month, widows of deceased veterans were denied compensation for their husband's deaths, the Canadian spraying has been ignored and Canadian Forces members have been given a gag order when it comes to CFB Gagetown. Yet our brave young soldiers fight and die for the rights and freedoms of... exactly whose right and freedoms are they fighting for again?


***********************
www.lfpress.com/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=27...Active&s=letters

politics
Agent Orange Rally
On May 19th at 2:00 p.m, an Agent Orange Protest Rally will be held in St. Stephen where we will be presenting Greg Thompson's office with a demand to call for a full Public and Judicial Inquiry into the Gagetown Atrocity.

If Ottawa does not initiate this Inquiry, forcefully requested at St. Stephen, we will once again march, this time in Ottawa.

If necessary: The Ottawa Protest Rally will take place on Parliament Hill beginning at 12:30 P.M. sharp on July 1st. 2009 (Canada Day) Both Protest Rallies are to draw Canada's attention to the 28 year toxic chemical spraying program of Agent Orange, Agent Purple and Agent White at CFB Gagetown N.B and to the devastating military and civilian medical casualties derived from the misuse and over-use of these toxic chemicals for more than 28 years.

A public inquiry is needed because all governments for the past 50 years have not bothered to tell Canadians the truth about Gagetown. For some reason, Gagetown chemical use has been a better kept secret then the H-bomb tests and, maybe because both the Liberal and Conservative parties are dead-set against it when they seem to have found over $14 million to find out about $300,000 and a past PM, which may or may not be of any interest and where there were no casualties.

Everyone is invited to come and join us on the Hill: Veterans, Legion members and Civilians are all invited whether you have been harmed by these chemicals or not, your presence will be appreciated.

This needs to be done and what better a day and place than the day which many soldiers have fought and died to accomplish, Canada Day, and at our very own seat of Government, The House of Parliament.

I know that it is very early to announce this but, in all fairness, we needed to let people know early enough so that they can try and work us into their summer plans. Everyone is welcome and it is time that Ottawa realized that we are not going to go away and shut up.


**********************

Kenneth H Young wrote:
Further to the St Stephan NB Protest Rally to take place on the 19th. of May at 2:00 P.M. where we will be presenting Greg Thompsons Office with a demand to call for a full Public and Judicial Inquiry into the Gagetown Atrocity.

If Ottawa does not initiate this Inquiry forcefully Requested at St. Stephen we will once again march, this time on Ottawa.

If necessary: The Ottawa Protest Rally will take place on Parliament Hill beginning at 12:30 P.M. sharp on July 1st. 2009 (Canada Day)

.

Sorry Guys and Gals but it looks unlikely that we will be given a permit for the First of July for our Protest.

We called Heritage Canada and they told me Parliament Hill would be closed for protest from the 15th. of June until after July the 5th because of safety reasons associated with construction equipment and crains on the Hill during that time.

We have applied for July 1st anyway in case we were missinformed but have also given the 6th. or 7th. of July as alternitives. However the turn-around time for the permit is 10 days, so we will not know for suer until then.

Go figure when we wish to protest that we would be blocked from the hill.

Ottawa Citizen
communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blo...=true#commentmessage


AGENT PURPLE AGENT ORANGE AND AGENT WHITE CONTROVERSY CONTINUES AT CFB GAGETOWN

By Dave Pugliese 04-04-2009 David Pugliese’s Defence Watch




I received this material from Marilynn Kirchgessner who has been involved in the Agent Orange issue at CFB Gagetown and is with the Agent Orange Association. She is highlighting problems, not only with the compensation package but with other chemicals such as Agent Purple. Here is what she writes:



Hi, Mr. Pugliese

I read your comments on your website above Peter Stoffer’s Press Release and need to tell you that, no, Mr. Harper has not has taken care of this issue with the compensation package offered to some of those who are affected by the spraying.

I, and many others in the Agent Orange Association across Canada, have been working long and hard over the past four years to get the real facts out and the magnitude of what happened at Base Gagetown exposed
.
For some reason, the media isn’t picking it up and I am hoping that you will. This untold story is huge.

DND and the media have been focusing on only 1966 and 1967 when the Americans sprayed a miniscule 481 liters of Agent Orange over a total of 7 days at Base Gagetown, making this an American issue. The bigger story is the 75,000 liters of Agent Orange that DND sprayed for 8 years from 1956-1964 before the Americans arrived at Gagetown which we aren’t receiving compensation for. Nor are we receiving compensation for our exposure to all the other deadly herbicides that DND sprayed from 1956 – 1984.

PM Harper stood up in Woodstock, N.B in January, 2006, and in his pre-election speech there promised: "Our government will stand up for full compensation for persons exposed to defoliant spraying during the period from 1956 - 1984", the 28 years that DND sprayed deadly herbicides over Base Gagetown.

Once elected, he limited his compensation criteria to exposure to only the 483 liters of Agent Orange that the Americans sprayed for 3 days in 1966 and 4 days in 1967.
The Americans also sprayed Agent Purple, three times more deadly than Agent Orange, in 1966 and 1967 but there is no mention of that by DND either. Agent Purple had been outlawed for use by Congress in 1965 and had been discontinued in Vietnam in 65. So why was it allowed to be sprayed on CFB Gagetown when it was totally illegal?

A total of 3,236,000 liters and pounds of (dry and liquid) Agent Orange, Agent Purple and Agent White were sprayed by DND between 1956 and 1984.

Why are we not being compensated for our exposure to ALL the toxic herbicides sprayed by over those 28 years, as Harper promised?

As to DND’s compensation package:

It is a slap in the face to all victims. It only recognizes exposure to the one herbicide, Agent Orange, and only the Agent Orange that the Americans sprayed.

The government's political cut-off date of death, February 6, 2006, the date the Harper government took office has to be removed. Even imposing such a date is unconscionable. It eliminates compensation for 98% of the victims who died before that date and tells the widows that the lives of their loved ones are worth nothing because they died before that date. Had they died after Feb. 6, 2006, their lives would be worth a measley $20,000.

We have been demanding a public inquiry for over three years. MP Greg Thompson stood up in the House of Commons four times as Opposition Member (in the Hansard Reports) and demanded that the then-Liberal government call for a public inquiry and compensation for all exposed to all of the herbicides sprayed between 1956 and 1984. Once elected, they did neither.

DND set up the Base Gagetown and Area Fact Finding Project (BGAFFP) in Oromocto over two years ago to investigate the spraying. They did soil testing and health studies all of which, of course, were fine. We know differently.

DND cannot investigate themselves! It's like a criminal investigating his own crime. They did the dirty deed (spraying) and need to be investigated themselves.
This is why we have been demanding that an independent public inquiry be called immediately - to investigate DND and what they did. Only then will the truth and magnitude of what happened at Gagetown be revealed and Mr. Harper made to do the right thing and keep his promise in Woodstock.

Two young Americans are here now in New Brunswick filming the story (from 1956 – 1984) and it is going to be submitted to the Toronto Film Festival in June. Chris Arsenault has just released his book about the spraying in Gagetown called Blowback. These fine young men are doing the job that our Canadian media haven’t.

Thank you for any help you can give us in getting the truth out, the magnitude of what happened at Gagetown and helping is make the government accountable for what they did.


Marilynn

www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=239536&sc=79

'Monster of a case'
Agent Orange suit moving at 'glacial pace'

ALISHA MORRISSEY
The Telegram

April 6, 2009
A class-action lawsuit against the federal government and several private chemical companies related to the spraying of Agent Orange at a New Brunswick military base is dragging on even as the deadline to apply for federal compensation passes.

Retired Brig. Gen. Ed Ring says the case has been moving at a "glacial pace," as the defendants file motions and appeals on various parts of the case.

Frustrating process

"I'm frustrated with the process," he says.

"It's turned, in my view, into a monster of a case. It's so complicated and I think the unlimited resources available to the defendants and the third parties, it's just going to go on and on and on."

The most recent legal hurdle was the decision to not allow evidence from the case in this province to be used in a similar case in another, Ring says.

A series of CDs with more than 11,000 pages of documents on them, were provided by the defendants for use in the case in this province, but won't be able to be presented as evidence in Saskatchewan, Ring says.

What's making matters worse, he says, is that there's a possibility that the case may be moved from the courts in Newfoundland to the courts in Saskatchewan.

"I guess what would give the applicants the best chance at success," Ring says. "I'd just like for the whole thing to proceed. I'm getting to the point where I don't care where ... every time you turn around there's appeal after appeal after appeal."

Ring was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1996 and retired from the military in December 2003, after receiving a bone-marrow transplant.

He then put his name forward on behalf of some 2,000 claimants in the lawsuit against the Attorney General of Canada, Department of National Defence, the Dow Chemical Co. and Pharmacia Corp. for spraying Agent Orange and other chemical herbicides at the Gagetown military base in New Brunswick in the 1950s and 1960s.

The claimants say their exposure to the chemicals increased their risk of cancers and other life-threatening diseases.

Justice Leo Barry certified the class-action suit two years ago.

Shortly after, Barry determined that the case should be heard in this province's courts. Meanwhile, the federal government offered $20,000 in compensation, but only to people who were exposed to Agent Orange in 1966 and 1967, and only if they have one of 12 disorders associated with Agent Orange exposure, such as prostate cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

However, as of March 30, less than half of the $96.5 million the federal government put aside for compensation has actually been spent.

In all about $43.74 million has been issued to people who applied for the compensation.

So far, the Department of Veteran's Affairs has received 3,395 applications for compensation - 2,187 have been approved, while 882 have been declined.

Some applications are still being processed, and although the deadline for applications passed on April 1, officials with the department say there will be exceptions made for some late applicants.

The unspent funds will be returned to general government revenues, officials confirm.

"It's kind of immaterial really," says Ring, of the fact that he didn't receive compensation.

He says, the chemical has a half-life of seven years, and a full life of about 50 years.

"Just to ignore all of that is just fundamentally wrong," Ring says. "It's not about the money now. It's about the principle. I'll hang in there as long as I can."

amorrissey@thetelegram.com

Kenneth H Young wrote:
Peter Stoffer will be attending and speaking at the Gagetown protest rally in St Stephan. On the 19th. of May 2009

It seem now that he may be in the House of commons at the time of our protest.

N.S. veteran stages hunger strike

By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Mon. Apr 6 - 9:28 PM


CHARLOTTETOWN — A one-man hunger strike took place in front of the Veterans Affairs headquarters in Charlottetown Monday on behalf of veterans who may be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and not know it.

Nova Scotia veteran Steven Dixon says he has a combination of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, known as PTSD, and Huntington's disease, a hereditary neurological disorder.

PTSD is an emotional disorder resulting from a very frightening, life-threatening or unsafe experience.

Dixon says he has been receiving treatment for both of his conditions from a medical centre in Nova Scotia.

In a news release sent to The Guardian Monday, Dixon said he hopes to raise awareness about PTSD, fight for those affected by agent orange testing, anyone who has been denied benefits from Veterans Affairs and people who have died waiting for benefits.

Tim Rose of Veterans Affairs came out of the Veterans Affairs headquarters to invite him inside to make his case.

A spokeswoman for Veterans Affairs, Janice Summerby, said she could not comment on what the two men talked about, but did say that anytime they know there's a dissatisfied client they try their best to get them the proper services.

Veterans Affairs Canada's mission is to provide services and benefits for veterans and to keep the memory of their sacrifices alive.

Dixon has requested aid from Veterans Affairs Canada in the past, and though he still has outstanding issues with them, he said the hunger strike is no longer for his own behalf.

When soldiers started to receive testing for the PTSD at or around 1993, several people who were released prior to that date were not tested, he said.

``This is the message to all ex-members of the Canadian Armed Forces prior to 1993,'' Dixon said. ``Get checked out, do some research and talk to someone that you can trust.''

He also wants to raise awareness for those affected by Agent Orange, an unregistered herbicide tested between 1966 and 1967 at a Canadian Forces base in Gagetown connected to several forms of cancer and other health problems.
******************
Note:
We tend to use the term “Agent Orange” as a catch-all to refer to all of
the herbicides employed in Gagetown and the controversy that resulted from that
action. The News Media as you can see above have chosen to continue using the governments rhetoric