OTTAWA, ON, October 11, 2000 - We have been advised that the Ontario Provincial Court has approved an application from Joseph Authorson for payment of interest on trust funds held under administration by Veterans Affairs Canada prior to the January 1990 amendment which permitted such payments.

Our understanding is that the effect will be to enable the Government to pay interest going back to the 1920's. Authorson was a "class action" and may involve a liability as high as $1.5 billion.

My colleagues in the National Council of Veteran Associations opposed this class action on the grounds that, in most cases, the beneficiaries would not be members of the veterans immediate family.

The Pension Act provides payments only for disabled veterans and their family dependants.

The Crown will presumably appeal the decision based on a precedent case of Ian Callie, now deceased. The claim for interest on funds administered on behalf of Callie was denied by the Federal Court in 1991. The negative decision was based on the principle of "set-off" in that such veterans received full hospital treatment and full pension benefits.

This principle is based on the premise that funds administered for a hospitalized veteran do not represent a normal trust arrangement. In lieu of paying interest, hospital officials provided many services to these severely disabled veterans above and beyond the provisions of the Pension Act.

The National Council of Veteran Associations considered it had a responsibility to inform the public that the class action was beyond the intention of the Pension Act. Moreover, if approved, it would mean that payments, sometimes as large as $500,000, could be made to distant relatives or extended family members.

In fact, one of the lawyers told the court that "we don't necessarily want the money to go to a 57th cousin, but if that's what the law says, that's where it will go."

Surely veterans organizations should not be blamed for attempting to throw some light on the situation. Rather than put the taxpayer in a position of having to fork over $1.5 billion, mostly to distant relatives (many of whom never even bothered to visit the disabled, leaving visiting to veterans organizations), we are obligated to oppose the class action.

My main concern was the reluctance of the Government to spend additional funds on veterans. Right now, the Government is trying to find enough money to look after civilians who worked closely with the military in the war effort. This includes not only the Merchant Seamen, but the Red Cross, the Overseas Fire Fighters, to say nothing of the Ferry Command Pilots who flew the unarmed bombers from Canada to England - - many of whom lost their lives.

The veteran, who apparently would have no comprehension about the claim, was not a combat casualty. He was discharged early in 1943. His Regiment, the Governor Generals Horse Guards, did not see action in Italy until June 1944.