SAINT JOHN, NB, July 13, 1999 - The Canadian Merchant Navy Veterans Association, at its Annual Meeting in Saint John this Saturday (July 17), will be advised by Cliff Chadderton of the National Council of Veteran Associations to take a "statesman-like" approach to the continuing battle for equal veterans benefits.

A special Parliamentary Committee, established to study the claim that Merchant Seamen should be compensated for having been denied veterans rehabilitation benefits after World War II, released a report on June 9th, which stated that a legitimate case had not been made for compensation.

The request to be treated on equal footing with war veterans has been a long-time objective of the Merchant Navy group. In 1992, the government enacted legislation to authorize War Disability and Income Support Pensions and Allowances. There was, however, no retro-activity for the 47 years since the end of World War II.

Also, Merchant Seamen had been denied rehabilitation benefits as the government had planned to use them to man an expanded Canadian Mercantile fleet. This plan failed in the early 1950, as the ship owners could not compete with seagoing vessels sailing under flags of convenience.

The matter came to a head late last Fall with a series of hunger strikes on Parliament Hill, headed by former Merchant Seaman Ossie MacLean of Saint John. This resulted in the approval by the government of a study regarding the claim, carried out by the House of Commons Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs.

Under Parliamentary rules, the government will be required to respond to the Committee's report in the Fall session.

Cliff Chadderton, Chair of the 35-member National Veterans Council and consultant to the Merchant Navy group, will make a presentation at the General Meeting, proposing that, as a first step, the former seamen should keep a watching brief on the discussions in Parliament. He notes that the Committee report was supported only by the Liberal Members and that there was strong opposition from all Opposition Parties, including the Bloc Qu‚becois.

"If the Parliamentary debate fails to produce results, the Merchant Navy Association should mount a 'statesman-like' demonstration to alert the Canadian public to the justice of their claim."

Chadderton felt that the hunger strikes were essential as a dramatic means of kick- starting the issue, but Parliament and the media would be more likely now to pay attention to the voluminous research which had been done, the facts of which had been presented to the Parliamentary Committee in its Hearing, which stretched from November 5, 1998 to May 25 of this year.