SOON AFTER Chris Arsenault started researching the Canadian saga of Agent Orange he stumbled upon an eerie scene in a New Brunswick village that highlighted the story’s significance.

The toxic defoliant used by the American military during the Vietnam War had been tested around CFB Gagetown during the 1960s and some of the people with whom he’d spoken suggested he visit Enniskillen, where they’d lived at the time.

"The place was virtually a ghost town," the 25-year-old former Haligonian says in a recent email interview.

"It was clear people had literally fled in the middle of the night. Some didn’t even bother to bring their possessions and old family photographs and furniture were strewn about some of the abandoned houses."

Arsenault was so intrigued he wrote about it in a magazine article, his honours thesis at Dalhousie University and a recently published book entitled Blowback: A Canadian history of Agent Orange and the War at Home. Arsenault interviewed people who once lived in Enniskillen, including Doreen Thomas. This is what she told Arsenault about some of the former villagers:

"Kelly was forty-one years old; she died full of cancer. A nurse with all kinds of degrees, she knew how to take care of herself. Mom just died in October. She had diabetes, congenital heart failure; you name it, she had it. My father died with cancer when he was sixty-six. My uncle dropped dead. Aunt Mar died of cancer, two of my uncles died with cancer. My grandfather and grandmother died with cancer. It involved everybody’s household. Everybody’s household was full of cancer. The people who didn’t have internal cancer, we had outside cancer. I’ve had eleven (tumours) removed. My sister died with spina bifida."

Blowback delves into why the Canadian military and its private subcontractors sprayed more than a million litres of herbicides in New Brunswick between 1956 and 1984 — the U.S. Congress had banned their use on American soil.

Arsenault’s extensive research involved using the Access to Information Act to ferret out damning documents and produce a scathing indictment of a Canadian government in denial of its responsibility for exposing its citizens to a deadly substance.

"Senior Canadian officials did know that dangerous, unregistered chemicals were being sprayed, yet did nothing to stop it," Arsenault says, contradicting Dennis Furlong’s 2005 fact-finding mission for the Liberal government.

"The Canadian government sprayed chemicals against its own people at a higher concentration than the U.S. sprayed in Vietnam."

It’s long been accepted as common fact that many of the Americans who served in Vietnam became sick with cancer after the war because of their exposure to Agent Orange. That is the same for the Vietnamese, many of whom suffered birth defects and other illnesses from the dioxin.

But Canadians have only recently realized the extent of their country’s involvement.

Arsenault explains that the Americans were concerned about using the chemicals for their counter-insurgency campaign. The Canadians were curious about how well the substances would control brush.

"The Canadian spraying represents the worst aspects of environmental management under a market system," says Arsenault, who has been arrested for his anti-capitalist activism. He was acquitted of unlawful assembly in January 2004. "The chemicals were simply a cheaper way of clearing brush than other non-dangerous methods. This was about saving money, while destroying lives.

"The legacy has been aborted fetuses, deformities, shattered lives, and cancer. I think a lot of soldiers, the people who are forced to do the dirty work of empire, are now questioning the super structure they once faithfully served."

A class-action lawsuit was launched in 2007 by civilian and military people affected by the spray program. It is still before the courts. Also in 2007, the federal government announced an Agent Orange compensation package, which has been criticized for its funding and its limits on those who can apply.

Staff reporter Jeffrey Simpson freelanced this story.

Gagetown Chemicals to be spread by fire once again. Stay out of the smoke lads.

country94news.blogspot.com/2009/04/annua...getown-underway.html


Sunday, April 19, 2009
Annual Spring Burn in Gagetown Underway
2009-04-19

13:39:54


Fire will be blazing in the base Gagetown area beginning today as the annual Spring Grass Burn Program gets underway. It's carried out every year to reduce the build-up of patches of dead grass in the training area's.

Burning will be carried out during normal working hours and only when weather conditions are favourable. It is scheduled to be finished by May 15th.

Ms. Christiane Young
Box 355
Emo, Ontario
P0W 1E0
I do not represent any organization.

Mr. Clement,
As our Minister of Health you must be aware of the toxic chemicals sprayed on our soldiers and the training grounds in CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick, from 1956 to 1984. It goes without saying that the spraying of the so called 'rainbow' chemicals left many veterans sick and dying. You must also be aware of our Government's denial of these facts, as well as leaving our veterans fighting a vast burocracy for any form of recognition, compensation and truth.
Why exactly, can our Government not just own up, clean up, and compensate those effected?
Gagetown could be cleaned up, leaving it safe for our sons and daughters to attend combat arms school without fears or doughts about the credibility of our Government, our Army and each other.
You, Mr. Clement have the obligation to deal with health concerns, health risks and the potential for our young soldiers to be exposed to residue chemicals in the training fields of Gagetown.
Have we not learned from the issues of Nitro, West Verginia: Vietnam: Seveso, Italy: or Love Canal????

I do understand that it is not the current administration who polluted base Gagetown, I also understand that it will cost a lot of money to clean up, and compensate victims.
But you, Mr. Clement, are in the enviable position to speak up, to do the right thing at the right time, while assuring the heath of future solders.
Thank you,

Sincerely

Christiane Young

A Protest Rally will begin in St. Stephen N.B. at the St Croix Public Library parking lot at 2 Budd Ave. on May 19, 2009 beginning at 1:30 PM.


The rally will then march to Greg Thompson’s, the Minister of Veterans Affairs, Constituency office to demonstrate and present our demands between 2:15 PM. and 2:30 PM.


This protest rally is to advise the Harper government that Canadian veterans and the victims of the CFB Gagetown Agent Orange spraying program, as well as the general public, are unhappy with the government's coverup regarding chemical spraying at CFB Gagetown.


Taking part in this protest rally will be participants from across N.S., N.B., Ont., B.C., U.S.A. and other parts of the world.


In attendance will be guest speakers from:


The Military Widows on the Warpath.


Agent Orange Association of Canada ( AOAC).


Agent Orange Alert ( AOA ).


Politicians, Health and Environmental experts.


Full measurable accountability and justice is our motivation and a Full Judicial Public Inquiry into the Gagetown Atrocity is our mission.


We will not be denied.



Anyone who would like to support CFB Gagetown's Toxic Chemical Victims are encouraged to participate in this historic protest rally,
either by joining with us in St Stephen N.B. or by e-mailing a letter of support to gary1@telus.net demanding a Full Judicial Public Inquiry.



For media inquires please contact.


Gary Goode
gary1@telus.net
Box 301
Fernie B.C.
V0B1M0
250-423-4245

April 19, 2009

thechronicleherald.ca/Books/1117392.html


Writer brings scandal to light
Agent Orange spraying in 1960s N.B. an outrage, activist says
By JEFFREY SIMPSON
Sun. Apr 19 - 7:09 AM


SOON AFTER Chris Arsenault started researching the Canadian
saga of Agent Orange he stumbled upon an eerie scene in a New
Brunswick village that highlighted the story’s significance.



The toxic defoliant used by the American military during the Vietnam
War had been tested around CFB Gagetown during the 1960s and some
of the people with whom he’d spoken suggested he visit Enniskillen,
where they’d lived at the time.



"The place was virtually a ghost town," the 25-year-old former
Haligonian says in a recent email interview.



"It was clear people had literally fled in the middle of the night.
Some didn’t even bother to bring their possessions and old family
photographs and furniture were strewn about some of the
abandoned houses."



Arsenault was so intrigued he wrote about it in a magazine article,
his honours thesis at Dalhousie University and a recently
published book entitled Blowback: A Canadian history of Agent
Orange and the War at Home. Arsenault interviewed people who
once lived in Enniskillen, including Doreen Thomas. This is what
she told Arsenault about some of the former villagers:



"Kelly was forty-one years old; she died full of cancer. A nurse
with all kinds of degrees, she knew how to take care of herself. Mom
just died in October. She had diabetes, congenital heart failure; you
name it, she had it. My father died with cancer when he was sixty-six.
My uncle dropped dead. Aunt Mar died of cancer, two of my uncles
died with cancer. My grandfather and grandmother died with cancer.
It involved everybody’s household. Everybody’s household was full
of cancer. The people who didn’t have internal cancer, we had outside
cancer. I’ve had eleven (tumours) removed. My sister died with
spina bifida."

Blowback delves into why the Canadian military and its private
subcontractors sprayed more than a million litres of herbicides in
New Brunswick between 1956 and 1984 — the U.S. Congress had
banned their use on American soil.


Arsenault’s extensive research involved using the Access to
Information Act to ferret out damning documents and produce a
scathing indictment of a Canadian government in denial of its
responsibility for exposing its citizens to a deadly substance.



"Senior Canadian officials did know that dangerous, unregistered
chemicals were being sprayed, yet did nothing to stop it," Arsenault
says, contradicting Dennis Furlong’s 2005 fact-finding mission for t
he Liberal government.



"The Canadian government sprayed chemicals against its own people
at a higher concentration than the U.S. sprayed in Vietnam."



It’s long been accepted as common fact that many of the Americans
who served in Vietnam became sick with cancer after the war because
of their exposure to Agent Orange. That is the same for the Vietnamese,
many of whom suffered birth defects and other illnesses from the dioxin.

But Canadians have only recently realized the extent of their country’s
involvement.



Arsenault explains that the Americans were concerned about using the
chemicals for their counter-insurgency campaign. The Canadians were
curious about how well the substances would control brush.


"The Canadian spraying represents the worst aspects of environmental
management under a market system," says Arsenault, who has been
arrested for his anti-capitalist activism. He was acquitted of unlawful
assembly in January 2004. "The chemicals were simply a cheaper
way of clearing brush than other non-dangerous methods. This was
about saving money, while destroying lives.



"The legacy has been aborted fetuses, deformities, shattered lives,
and cancer. I think a lot of soldiers, the people who are forced to do
the dirty work of empire, are now questioning the super structure
they once faithfully served."

A class-action lawsuit was launched in 2007 by civilian and military
people affected by the spray program. It is still before the courts.

Also in 2007, the federal government announced an Agent Orange
compensation package, which has been criticized for its funding and
its limits on those who can apply.



Staff reporter Jeffrey Simpson freelanced this story.

static.canadaeast.com/archives/postgazet...425/XFP0425A0664.pdf

April 24, 2009



Halifax writer releases book about defoliant spraying at CFB Gagetown



By GILLIAN CHRISTIE

This Week



A Halifax writer has released a book all about the defoliant spraying that has taken place at CFB Gagetown. Author Chris Arsenault’s book, Blowback: A Canadian History of Agent Orange and the War at Home was officially released in March and he made an appearance at Sharla Books in theOromocto Mall last Saturday where he signed copies and spoke to the local residents he wrote this story about.



When Arsenault was first approached to write this story, it was originally intended to be a magazine piece. Upon further investigation, and the discovery of more information, he quickly realized there was more to this story than one article would allow room for.



This book came out of an idea Arsenault said he pitched to the editor of This magazine on Canadian veterans and the Spanish Civil War. That editor came back with the more local Agent Orange idea.



“After I began doing interviews and especially after going to Enniskillen and seeing that place, I realized this was a huge issue. It wasn’t just one story and it wasn’t just some mistake that happened a long time ago,” Arsenault said.



He said he couldn’t overlook other issues pertaining to pesticide spraying and environmental control as well as foreign wars, Canada’s role in the world and the treatment of veterans by the Forces that they serve.



Arsenault said he then realized after writing the feature-lengthy magazine piece he wanted to do more digging on his own and keep writing this story. Much of his research has stemmed from Freedom of Information Act requests. Because of the amount of time he knew this was going to take, he decided to turn the project into a book. Arsenault spent the better part of a couple of years compiling information.



He said he was surprised at how blatant some of the information that he came across really is. “I found minutes of one meeting of the Defence Research Board of Canada from May 1966 which showed that senior officials in Ottawa knew that ‘dangerous and unregistered’ herbicides were being used at the base,” Arsenault said.



“I think that’s the biggest contribution I’ve made because up until now, the general idea was that 2,4-D and 2, 4, 5-T were legally registered chemicals in Canada. But what I’ve seen, actually, is that they knew unregistered chemicals were used. Those weren’t the only chemicals at all.”



The idea that those were registered and therefore nobody’s at fault, I tried to show that that’s actually not the case and when you read these minutes, how can you guys not change your policy based on that,” he said.



Arsenault said he’s pleased with the response he’s gotten from the book so far. He tried hard to maintain the integrity of his sources and have them tell their own stories through him. Arsenault said he wanted to continue in the research and exposure of this issue and add to the already incalculable amount of work done by a lot of military families, civilians and other journalists.



“My first goal that I wanted to do was compile all the information. I think having a book lends credibility to an issue,” Arsenault said. “I wanted to try to find new information and goal three was I just wanted to tell the story of people who were involved in this.”

Please send Letters of support to gary1@telus.net

Come on guys, this is unbelievable. So far we only have 16 letters of support for our march to Minister of Veterans Affairs Greg Thompsons office on the 19th of may. Most from my family and friends and 7 from US soldiers.

How can the Canadian soldier be so whipped that the US military even out does them in a Canadian Protest for Canadian Spraying of Toxic Chemicals at and Canadian Base, CFB Gagetown New Brunswick?

Are we Canadian soldiers so used of being treated as lab rats that we are going to sit back and take it like good little rats or are we going to stand up and be counted like real men, real soldiers. Every letter written is normally counted as 100 who didn't bother.
*****************

Example letter.

Mr. Greg Thompson.
I wish to add my name to those demanding a full public and judicial inquiry into the 28 years of the toxic chemical defoliation Program at CFB Gagetown from 1956 through 1984.

telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/653237

Protest planned for border town

Published Friday May 1st, 2009

Derwin Gowan
Telegraph-Journal

ST. STEPHEN - Protesters from across Canada will come to St. Stephen May 19 to demand a public judicial inquiry into spraying chemical defoliants at CFB Gagetown, says a Canadian Forces veteran who is organizing the demonstration.

Gary Goode said the group will include former soldiers, environmentalists and politicians. They will assemble at the St. Croix Public Library parking lot and march up Milltown Boulevard to the New Brunswick Southwest constituency office of Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson.

"I think you're going to be quite surprised what's going to happen there," Goode said by telephone Thursday from Fernie, B.C.

The lineup of speakers includes Peter Stoffer, New Democratic Party MP for Sackville-Eastern shore in Nova Scotia, as well as Conservation Council of New Brunswick officials David Coon of Waweig and Inka Milewski of Miramichi.

The group Veterans Widows on the Warpath will attend, Goode said.

The group will demand a public judicial inquiry into what Goode calls a cover-up related to the health effects of spraying chemicals to kill vegetation in the training areas at CFB Gagetown over 30 years from the 1950s to the 1980s.

"It was a whitewash to limit our government's liability and culpability," Goode said.

These chemicals - Agent Orange, Agent Purple and others - were different formulations of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T that released other chemicals called dioxins that cause cancer and other health problems.

Goode, a native of Springhill, N.S., served three years in the Canadian Army, all with the Second Battalion, Black Watch Regiment of Canada, at CFB Gagetown from 1967 to 1970.

In 1966 and 1967, Canadian authorities allowed Americans to spray defoliants at CFB Gagetown, Goode said.

He left the army and operated heavy equipment in Alberta and British Columbia.

He began to have trouble with pneumonia in 2003 and doctors diagnosed a tumour on his right lung in March 2005. The lung was removed a month later.

He joined the class action lawsuit underway now.

In Goode's view, Thompson did not keep promises he made as an opposition MP to deal squarely with victims of chemical spraying, and has not moved on a full inquiry. For this reason the group chose to demonstrate outside his St. Stephen office.

Dear Mr.Ignatieff,

I am one of the many Veterans who had their lives and health altered at CFB Gagetown because of the numerous toxic chemical defoliants used there. This has continued to be a problem for many reasons, not the least of which may have more to do with MP's and past PM's parents and/or relatives involvement in portfolios which should have stopped the spraying or taken care of its victims.

You sir are in the enviable position of not only not having been in government while the atrocity was taking place but also that there is to my knowledge non of your family involved in what transpired in CFB Gagetown between 1956 and 1984. You may be one of the only political leaders today who can fix this issue without any need to see if you would be trashing your own family or if there might be some guilt that would fall at your own feet.

Having said this I wonder why you and your office hasn't come out in support of the Canadian Veterans who have been affected by what can only be described as indiscriminate chemical use and a somewhat shoddy chemical registration process which took place in the 50's through the 80's.

The general attitude that because it is before the courts, Ottawa won't even talk about it is somewhat backwards because if Ottawa had bothered to take care of the victims, it wouldn't even be before the courts. Soldiers love their country and are very reluctant to take Ottawa to court but have been left with no other course of action. Ottawa has refused to even acknowledge that they made an honest mistake, VAC has because of this refused any Gagetown Chemical pension clamed, Workman's comp and CPP refuse to deal with the problem while many soldiers die or loose everything they have spent a lifetime to achieve due to the costs of medications and other medical expenses.

There are somewhere in the neighborhood of one million voters who are going to vote with veterans issues in mind. More 440,000 for the Gagetown issue alone. It would seem prudent for you to state your position on Veterans issues and most notably the CFB Gagetown issue if you wish any of these votes to go your way in the up coming or next Federal election.

Remember Canada is watching you, in fact on the Gagetown issue the whole world is watching.


Cpl. Kenneth H. Young CD (ret)

static.canadaeast.com/archives/postgazet...606/XFP0606A0164.pdf

SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2009



agent orange widow says protests won’t stop until there’s a resolution



Rally held in St. Stephen to demand full, public inquiry into toxic spraying



By GiLLiAn CHrisTie

This Week



The agent orange association of Canada organized a rally outside federal Veterans affairs Minister greg Thompson’s office in st. stephen to demand for one thing: a full, public inquiry into the toxic spraying at CFB gagetown between 1956 and 1984.



Fourteen members of the Military widows on a war path attended the rally, including founder Bette hudson from waasis. “i think a lot of attention was paid to the widows, actually,” hudson said. “we were there in a supportive capacity so that a united front was, sort of, shown.”



she said she is confident the message that they’re not going away was reiterated and heard that day. “i do believe that somebody is listening and hopefully we’ll get our message out,” hudson said. “it won’t be dying down at all, not for the widows, because we will keep going on until we get some resolution. we want what they owe us; it’s as simple as that.”



This group of ladies has been excluded from the government’s ex gratia settlement for those who were affected by the toxic spraying at CFB gagetown during the summers of 1966 and 1967.



Their husbands had already died of illness caused by the spraying before the Feb. 6, 2006 date when the harper government assumed office. “They’re so busy paying out others that they’ve forgotten us. we’re going to fight on until we get a resolution and they have to realize that,” Hudson said. “we’re quite different because we’re all widows, we’ve all lost our husbands and we’ve been snubbed by ottawa. it’s time that they know that we are just not going away.”



she said, overall, the message of all who attended the rally and offered their voice to the cause was heard. “i think they definitely got their point across to which the government announced within 30 minutes that they were not going to have a public inquiry,” ,hudson said.



“That’s part of the arrogance. we can’t let it go and we’re not going to.” retired Cpl. ken Young travelled from nanaimo, B.C. to be at the rally last Tuesday. he is an active member of the agent orange association of Canada and said this rally was something he felt he had to be a part of. he said it wasn’t as attended as they would have liked, but despite a lower than anticipated number, they’re confident their message got out. “it was a very nice coalition of gagetown victims. That was nice to see,” Young said. “The funny thing is, the people of st. stephen were coming up to us and asking what we were doing. a lot of them had not even heard of agent orange being used in gagetown. The government, that’s the way they want it. if nobody knows about it, nobody’s going to complain.”



There was a large number of people who couldn’t do the walk but drove from the starting point to the minister’s office. Many are suffering from health issues that prevented them from being there at all. Young said this rally is just one of a number of projects planned to help elevate the awareness of this situation.



“This isn’t just a new Brunswick issue. The soldiers, by their very nature, came from all over the country and they were sent here,” Young said. “This is the combat arms school.” He said he’s sick of hearing the government’s excuses in limiting the payment to so few affected.



“Did they do their job when they registered [Agent Orange]?” he said. Another excuse Young doesn’t accept is the fact that the government claims they didn’t know the toxic dioxins were present in the chemicals they were spraying yet, contradicting themselves, have said that because the chemicals were produced in Canada they were made at a slower, safer rate and removed all of the harmful products before putting it into use.



“If I have a registered gun, does that mean I can shoot you?” Young said. Young said government reports have claimed both themselves and the chemical companies were not aware HCB and PCP dioxin in the chemicals.



“Why are they registering chemicals if they didn’t even know what’s in them?” he said. These Canadian chemicals were made in peace time so the manufacturers made it slower and there was less dioxin in it. If they didn’t know it was in there, how can they know they removed it? Why would they remove something they didn’t know was in it?” Young said.



“If I can figure that out, anyone can.” “There’s no going back. This has gone out of control,” he said. “The government has not even tried to deal with it. If anything, what they’ve done with the ex gratia payments, is they’ve tried to weasel it down to the smallest number of people they could possibly get away with paying, hoping it would go away. In doing so, they’ve insulted a great number of the people who were

involved.”



“When they came to power, they had the chance of cleaning it up without any guilt because they had absolutely nothing to do with it because it was the Progressive Conservatives and Liberal parties. For them to do what they’ve done, it was basically a big cover-up. They not only inherited but they’ve adopted the cover-up.”



next up for these protestors is a rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in October. Rally organizing group Agent Orange Association of Canada Inc.’s copresident Carol Brown Parker said they need to keep going in their quest to receive a full, public inquiry and they’re going to continue to do whatever they can to make that happen.



“There are so many people, even in this area, who don’t know or understand,” Brown Parker said. “There are a lot of misconceptions and they really highlighted it at the rally.” The AOAC has named June 15 as the deadline for the Greg Thompson to establish contact with them.



“I am willing to be a point person for an initial discussion on this topic and look forward to the Minister’s receptiveness,” Brown Parker said. “I’ll be waiting for Greg Thompson to communicate with me. I want a face-to-face, one on one conference to discuss the options and how we are going to go from here. It’s not a dead issue. Far from it.”



“I’m not looking for money,” she said. “I’m looking for that full, judicial inquiry. We need them to admit what was happening.”