OTTAWA, ON, April 25, 1997 - Officers of The War Amps -- the organization which has spearheaded the request for payment of compensation for slave labour for Canadians imprisoned by the Japanese in World War II -- expressed appreciation for the support of the Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. At the same time, Cliff Chadderton, the Chief Executive Officer, hoped that the matter would not become a political football.

The Chairman of the Committee, Bill Graham, Member of Parliament for Rosedale, Ontario, sent Chadderton a copy of a letter he had forwarded to Doug Young, Minister of National Defence and Veterans Affairs, supporting the Claim.

The Members of the Committee from the Bloc Québecois had proposed a resolution in Committee which demanded some positive government action. Their proposal failed to carry the necessary majority vote and their spokesman, Benoît Sauvageau, issued a press release today criticizing the failure of the Committee to adopt its resolution.

Chadderton suggested that the letter from the Committee Chairman to the Minister indicated "real progress" in regard to the Claim. He was critical of the fact that further action by the Committee was being held up, awaiting a legal opinion from the Department of Foreign Affairs, noting that the Committee had requested this opinion at a meeting of the Committee on March 11, 1997.

The letter to the Minister indicated as well that the Committee was awaiting a substantive response from the Japanese government which, in Chadderton's view, would reflect their often-stated position that the 1952 Peace Treaty extinguished any further rights to compensation.

"On the bright side," Chadderton said, "Mr. Graham's letter stated the conviction that 'their (the Canadian Far East PoWs) suffering and contribution must be recognized in a tangible way'". Moreover, in expressing the view of the Committee, the Chairman proposed that if the matter could not be resolved before the end of the current Parliament, the recommendation was that the Committee would continue to press for action in the next Parliament.

Chadderton noted that the resolution from the Bloc Québecois was more specific and reflected in an accurate manner the recommendations which The War Amps had placed before the Foreign Affairs Committee in its meeting of November 21, 1996. This called for the payment of $23,940 for every Hong Kong Veteran and that the amount -- a total of $20,349,000 -- be claimable from the Japanese.

The Claim is based on a provision of the Geneva Convention to the effect that prisoners put to work in enemy defence industries will be entitled to payment. Slave labour was imposed by Japan upon 2,100 Canadians - mostly soldiers from the army contingent sent to defend the British colony of Hong Kong. Of these, 350 are still alive.

The War Amps presented the Claim before the Foreign Affairs Committee on November 21, 1996. A subsequent hearing was held on March 11, 1997, in which representatives of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Justice and Foreign Affairs were allowed to respond.

After the second hearing, Chadderton was of the opinion that Committee Chairman Graham and the MPs were far from satisfied with the response given by these government bureaucrats. This would appear to be verified by both the Bloc's proposed resolution and the Chairman's subsequent letter to Doug Young.

The Committee's support is seen by The War Amps as a major development in a labourious process that began in 1987 when, using its NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) status before the United Nations, The War Amps commenced the Claim before the Human Rights Commission in Geneva. It required 19 briefs to clear hurdles such as whether there was a moratorium on war crimes and if the 1952 Peace Treaty between Japan and Canada extinguished the possibility of any further claims.

The Human Rights Commission was sympathetic in view of the horrendous conditions under which these Canadians were forced to work. It found, however, it had no power to deal with compensation issues.

The War Amps then placed the Claim before another UN body under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, contending that in signing the Peace Treaty and in failing to protect the rights of the Far East PoWs, Canada itself was in violation of the law. The UN agency stated that it did not have jurisdiction to deal with the matter, in that The War Amps had not exhausted all the domestic (ie. Canadian) remedies.

The War Amps took the matter to Prime Minister Chrétien, who referred it to Justice Minister Allan Rock. In his reply, Rock denied that Canada had any responsibility.

The War Amps then asked for a review before a parliamentary committee, which resulted in the November 1996 hearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee.

In his submission before Graham's Committee, Chadderton pointed out that Canada's failures in this matter commenced with the decision, in the first place, to send this Canadian contingent to Hong Kong at a time when even Winston Churchill had stated that the garrison could not be defended in case of a Japanese attack.

The next abdication of responsibility came in 1942 - a year after the capture of these troops. Through the neutral country of Argentina, the Canadian government had asked Japan to abide by the Geneva Convention. Japan refused, and Canada failed its soldiers and airmen in captivity by not following up. This failure continued, according to Chadderton, when in signing the Peace Treaty, Canada "let Japan off the hook."

Canada's dereliction of its responsibilities continued in failing to support The War Amps during its nine years of hearings in Geneva.

The position placed before, and now supported by, the Foreign Affairs Committee is that Canada is now obligated to pay this claim. The War Amps noted that if Canada paid these veterans or their widows, it could claim reimbursement from Japan through the International Court of Justice in The Hague.