'PRIMETIME' RESOLUTION
75th Annual Meeting National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada
Persons Deemed Not to Have Served in the Armed Forces in World War II
On January 1, 1945, the government passed the War Service Grants Act, a section of which established a REVIEW COMMITTEE to reconsider the circumstances of dishonourable discharges for certain members of the Armed Forces.
The Committee provided a means of dealing with persons who may have been given a dishonourable discharge under circumstances which, when reviewed, could be replaced by an honourable discharge.
On August 14, 1945, the Governor-in-Council of the Canadian government passed an Order-in-Council to provide a mechanism to be used to close the files on 8,100 persons who had been enrolled under the National Resources Mobilization Act (conscripts) and another 6,000 who were absent without leave or had deserted. It was necessary for the government to clarify the status of such persons.
Accordingly, the Order-in-Council provided that a declaration could be made to the effect that such persons were “deemed not to have served.”
The situation which has developed late in 2005 is that justifiable cases are coming to light where persons who had been given a dishonourable discharge were not eligible for post-discharge programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. These cases should be reviewed, to ensure that a dishonourable discharge was justified or, alternatively, should be changed to an honourable discharge.
The main intent of Order-in-Council P.C. 3264 was to provide a means by which personnel who had been called up under the National Resources Mobilization Act (conscripts) and who had not reported as required could be designated as deemed not to have served.
It would appear, through hindsight, that the inclusion of general service personnel who had been given dishonourable discharges was a secondary purpose of the Order-in-Council and should not have been included.
The 54-member National Council has passed the following resolution as of October 27, 2005:
| Item 1: |
Order-in-Council P.C. 3264 should remain in effect as a means of disposing of the files of those called up under the NRMA (conscripts). |
| Item 2: |
Order-in-Council P.C. 3264 should be rescinded in its effect in regard to those who did serve and had been given dishonourable discharges. |
| Item 3: |
The Review Committee established under the War Service Grants Act should be reconstituted with powers to investigate. Such Committee could remedy any injustices to those who had served and were classified as having dishonourable discharges. |
| Item 4: |
Where a dishonourable discharge could be amended to an honourable discharge, it would still mean that a deserving veteran was not eligible for rehabilitation benefits. |
| Item 5: |
In that, in such cases, the veterans were deprived of rehabilitation benefits with a possible compounded value over 60 years of up to $50,000.00, the government should consider compensation to the veteran or his widow by means of an ex gratia payment between a maximum of $20,000.00 and a minimum of $5,000.00, to be approved depending on the veteran’s length of service and other applicable circumstances. |
| Item 6: |
The government should act immediately upon this recommendation, due to the lapse of time between the decisions which deprived such persons of status and benefits, and the current situation of the veteran or his spouse. |
| Attachments: |
Committee of Review – War Service Grants Act
Order-in-Council P.C. 3264
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