OTTAWA, ON, February 10, 1996 - The War Amputations of Canada charged today that, in failing to protect the interests of its Hong Kong veterans, the Federal Government is in violation of both international and domestic laws and conventions.

Accordingly, Cliff Chadderton, Chief Executive Officer of the veterans' organization, asked Justice Minister Allan Rock in a letter dated February 9th to institute a judicial-type inquiry to examine the situation.

Chadderton stated that the Far East prisoners of war were entitled to a "fast track" procedure which would decide whether their government had acted properly.

"The Government, which insists that the 1952 Peace Treaty settled all claims, must be aware that the Geneva Convention supersedes any peace treaty in circumstances where individual rights are violated," Chadderton said.

"Also, Canada is required under law to ensure that its citizens are given the protection offered them by the provisions which Canada has supported in the United Nations and other international forums. It seems clear, therefore, that the manner in which Canada has denied support to the Hong Kong and other Far East PoWs is a strong indication that the Canadian Government has broken the law," Chadderton said.

"Earlier we had considered going through the courts if the government did not take action to resolve the compensation claim," Chadderton said. He noted, however, that a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms or other Federal Court procedures could take months, which these veterans do not have. "So we now suggest some form of judicial inquiry," he added.

The claim against Japan for compensation for Canadians subjected to slave labour by the Japanese in World War II was initiated in 1987 by The War Amps, which has official status as a non-governmental organization. The demand was in the form of a submission to the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. It was based on an article of the Geneva Convention which provides that prisoners of war made to work in war industries of their captors must be paid at the going rate for domestic labour in the detaining country. The claim failed due to the lack of support by the Canadian government, according to Cliff Chadderton, Chief Executive Officer of The War Amps.

This rejection led to a demand in 1993 for a review of the Canadian Government position under the provisions of the Optional Protocol procedure of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Human Rights Committee of the United Nations stated in October of 1995 that it could not act upon the request due to technical and procedural reasons in that claimants had not exhausted remedies available in Canada.

The War Amps then approached Prime Minister Chrétien on December 11, 1995, arguing that Canada had failed to protect the rights of these former PoWs in the first instance by entering into the 1952 Peace Treaty and releasing the rights of the Canadian Veterans to claim for appropriate compensation.

In a further letter to the Prime Minister dated January 5, 1996, Chadderton stated that Canada had further ignored the interests of the Far East prisoner of war group by refusing to support the claim against the Government of Japan in all relevant U.N. international tribunals. The Prime Minister's office referred the question to Justice Minister Allan Rock on January 10, 1996. Upon being notified of this action, Chadderton wrote to the Minister providing comprehensive background information on the claim.

Chadderton stated: "It is our position that the basic individual human rights of the Canadian prisoners of war placed in slave labour by the Japanese have been infringed . . . and that the ongoing and continuing deprivation of these rights together with the discriminatory actions of the Canadian Government over the history of this matter has direct relevance to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

"It would be our further position that the actions or omissions of the Canadian Government over the course of this matter seriously call into question Canada's responsibility to fulfil its obligations under international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Chadderton pointed out a number of precedents in his letter to the Justice Minister, including the payment made by the Federal Government in 1988 to individual Japanese Canadians who were interned during World War II. He noted that the Japanese Canadian organizations involved were in the course of initiating legal action, both domestically and internationally against Canada just prior to the establishment of the compensation package.

The letter described another parallel which involved a claim in 1985 -- this time brought by The War Amps -- which ultimately resulted in compensation to Canadian victims of the drug Thalidomide, the use of which had been permitted by an acknowledged error on the part of the Federal Drug Administration.

Chadderton stated: "The claim was discontinued when the government of the day provided compensation to Canada's Thalidomide victims under the auspices of a specific program set up by the Department of National Health and Welfare, which was designated for the specific purpose of compensating individuals who had suffered extraordinary hardship."

"We had two avenues open to us," Chadderton stated. "The first was related to that section of the Charter which guarantees the rights of Canadians to compensation where fundamental human rights are contravened. In addition, a second aspect of the claim refers to the responsibility of the Federal Court to ensure that the Government fulfils its responsibilities to protect the rights of Canadian citizens under international treaties and conventions to which Canada is a signatory."

Chadderton stated that, in view of the age of the Far East PoWs, which is now 76, it was essential to ensure that it was the responsibility of the Canadian Government to handle this without delay.

"As far as we are concerned," Chadderton stated, "compensation is still a factor." He noted that the Canadian Government could pay such compensation to Canadian veterans and proceed to recover the funds from Japan through the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

It is noted that in a recent decision an official investigator for the Human Rights Commission stated that if Japan refused to provide compensation for the Korean Comfort Women, their government should take up the issue through this international forum.

The larger issue now, however, is the Government's abandonment of its obligation under law," Chadderton said.

He stated that the request for a judicial inquiry was prompted by a lack of confidence in the federal bureaucracy's ability to take appropriate action and its propensity to rely on the time-worn practice of what he termed "obfuscation."

Chadderton stated: "This situation has reached crisis proportions. Any delay will only give the Government officials further opportunity to find ways and means to develop negative positions."

"The only acceptable course, in our view, is to have the Federal Government set up a judicial inquiry which would decide the issue -- not on the basis of what the Government should or should not do as a political concession -- but with reference to the question of whether present and former Canadian Governments, in failing to support the claim of these Canadian Veterans, have contravened their legal responsibilities under the requirements of the Geneva Convention and the various international protocols which guard against the violations of human rights of all citizens - including Canadians," Chadderton said.