TORONTO, ON, September 4, 1997 - When Parliament opens on September 22nd, Canadian Hong Kong veterans will be knocking on the door of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs as a follow-up to a letter issued by the then Chairman of the Committee, Bill Graham, just before the close of Parliament.

The letter indicated that the Committee was anxious to solve the compensation claim for slave labour against Japan and that if this could not be done before the election, the question should be brought up before Parliament reconvenes.

In April, officers of The War Amps -- the organization which has spearheaded the request for compensation for slave labour for Canadians imprisoned by the Japanese in World War II -- expressed appreciation for the support of the Commons Standing Committee and, at the same time, Cliff Chadderton, the Chief Executive Officer, hoped the matter would not become a political football.

Graham had forwarded Chadderton a copy of a letter supporting the claim that he had sent to then Minister of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Doug Young on April 24.

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 news release criticizing the failure of the Committee to adopt its resolution.

Chadderton had suggested that Graham's letter to the Minister indicated "real progress" in regard to the claim and 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 on March 11, 1997.

The letter to the Minister also indicated 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 the PoWs suffering and contribution must be recognized in a tangible way."

Moreover, in expressing the view of the Committee, Graham 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, which began in 1987, is based upon 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, approximately 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 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 Young.

The position placed before, and now supported by, the Foreign Affairs Committee is that Canada is now obligated to pay the 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.