Former Gagetown soldier encouraged by federal probe of Agent Orange use at base
Standing committee on national defence holding hearings on contaminated military sites
A former Gagetown soldier who's seeking an independent public inquiry into the use of Agent Orange at the New Brunswick military base decades ago has renewed hope, thanks to meetings being held by the Commons committee on national defence.
The committee has undertaken a study into "current and legacy contamination sites" and will hear from government officials, occupational health experts, academics and researchers.
It's also hearing from people affected by Agent Orange in New Brunswick, trichloroethylene, or TCE, a cancer-causing industrial degreasing agent and other contaminants in Valcartier, Que., burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Veterans With Cancer group, and others "impacted by contaminated DND sites."
"Our hopes are high," said Gary Goode, 75, who was an infantry soldier at Base Gagetown from 1967 to 1971, and is chair of Brats In the Battlefield, a Canadian Gagetown veterans advocacy group. He was among those invited to speak recently to the committee about Agent Orange.
Goode says with all of the political parties represented, he has hope there will be changes as a result of the committee's work.
"It has to be more than just a smoke and mirrors show to, you know, appease. I believe that they're serious about this," Goode said of the committee during an interview from his home in Fernie, B.C.
The meetings, which began in November and are scheduled to continue into the new year, come after a Maine commission called in March for a new probe of the historical use of Agent Orange and other herbicides at 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown in Oromocto, where Maine National Guard members train.
The Gagetown Harmful Chemical Study Commission determined the data and analysis used in a Canadian report that found most people at or near the base were not at risk for long-term health effects was "incorrect" and "biased."
That Canadian fact-finding report, released more than 15 years ago, concluded only specific populations, including those directly involved with herbicide applications and brush clearings soon after application, were at a greater risk for developing adverse health outcomes.
Compensation payments in Canada were limited to $20,000 for veterans and civilians who worked on or lived within five kilometres of the base between 1966 and 1967, and only those with illnesses associated with Agent Orange exposure. exposure, including Hodgkin's disease, lymphoma, respiratory cancers, prostate cancer and type 2 diabetes.
Goode believes the Maine commission played a "huge role" in the national defence standing committee's decision to study the issue and file a report with recommendations to the House of Commons.
He has been lobbying for an inquiry for nearly 20 years, since he lost his right lung to cancer, and received the one-time ex gratia payment of $20,000 from Ottawa.
"We dug and lived in trenches, sometimes for days" at Gagetown, inhaling dust, Goode told the committee in Ottawa last week via video conference. "And we crawled on our bellies through the chemically saturated training area."
The training area and ranges were "repeatedly sprayed" with chemical mixtures commonly known as Agent Orange, Agent Purple and Agent White, according to Goode.
The Canadian government allowed the U.S. military to test herbicides, including Agent Orange and Agent Purple, at Base Gagetown in 1966 and 1967. The U.S. sprayed Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to remove trees and dense tropical foliage that provided enemy cover.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, has since classified one of the chemicals in Agent Orange, sometimes referred to as dioxin, as "known to be carcinogenic to humans."
The Department of National Defence maintains only two barrels of Agent Orange and Agent Purple were tested over seven days in 1966-67 and that spraying was limited to a remote 56-hectare area, under strictly controlled conditions, with little to no wind.
Seeking full compensation
But Goode contends more than 6,500 barrels were "vastly distributed" over 73,000 hectares between 1956 and 1984, based on military documents obtained through access to information.
"The truth is successive federal governments and DND sprayed more of these highly toxic chemicals per acre at CFB Gagetown than the U.S. military sprayed per acre in Vietnam during that entire war," he told the committee.
Goode wants to see full compensation for those harmed by the use of these chemicals at Gagetown. It's about "truth, honesty, accountability and justice," he said.
Woman says family got sick living at base
Eileen Beauchamp of Ottawa agrees. Her late father served in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1951 to 1975, including seven years at Gagetown in the 1960s, when she was a young girl.
Beauchamp told the committee her family regularly had picnics on the base, picked blueberries, fished and drank spring water.
Over the years, she and several family members have been diagnosed with cancers, respiratory diseases and other serious health issues with no familial history, leading them to believe Agent Orange and other chemicals that were sprayed are to blame.
"This experience is not unique. Countless other military personnel, veterans, families and civilians with ties to CFB Gagetown have faced similar struggles and illnesses," she said.
Although the 2007 ex-gratia payment program included family members and civilians, it had a sunset clause that ended claims in December 2011, which precludes compensation for people like her, who developed illnesses later on.
"Currently, there's really no recourse for any civilian member, whether it be an employee of National Defence, whether it be a family member of a veteran, or a community member that may have been affected," said Beauchamp.
Doctor urges 'presumptive' diagnosis approach
A former military doctor says it is time for Ottawa to take a "presumptive" approach to diagnosis so that anyone with health issues who was exposed to Agent Orange or other hazards would not have to prove a causal connection for compensation.
Dr. David Salisbury, who served in the military's medical services for more than 28 years before retiring in 2004 to become the medical officer of health for the City of Ottawa, urged the committee to "formally recognize that veterans can and do develop occupation diseases long after their service."
"Historically, disease and environmental hazards have caused more casualties and impaired military operations more than combat itself," according to Salisbury.
He wants to see Canada follow the lead of the U.S. with the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, or PACT Act.
Passed in 2022, it expanded health-care coverage and benefits for veterans exposed to substances like Agent Orange, as well as to their survivors. As Salisbury put it: "You got this diagnosis. We know you were in such and such an area. We're going to put those two together and we're just going to presume that it was caused by that."
The argument has to move on from causation to "concentrating on care for people who are sick and not have them battle the bureaucracy about compensation and owning up to some responsibility," said Salisbury.
In an interview with CBC News following the meeting, committee chair John McKay, the Liberal MP for Scarborough-Guildwood in Ontario, described Salisbury's suggestion of presumptive diagnosis as "an interesting idea."
"I just don't know where we'll go with it," he said.
Concerns of ongoing exposure
Meanwhile, James Bezan, the Conservative MP for Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman in Manitoba and vice-chair of the committee, expressed concerns that the soil at Gagetown and other sites might still be contaminated, when there are soldiers still out there training.
The chair voiced similar concerns to CBC News.
"It's one thing, you know, to have soldiers and personnel exposed in times past, but to knowingly expose people currently would require a bit of an explanation, to say the least," said McKay.
Goode said he wants to see more testing at Gagetown.
"The only way to prevent sickness and disease is to get at the root cause," he said. "That is a treatment in itself and we have to approach it that way."
'This is not a panacea'
The committee chair said the testimony to date has been "quite compelling and quite tragic." McKay said he expects the committee may request more time to delve deeper.
"It's turning out to be kind of a much larger problem than I suppose any of us had anticipated to be."
As it stands, McKay believes it will be at least May before the committee files its report and recommendations.
"It's a formidable task ahead, with a time pressure that is unrealistic," he said, tempering the expectations of veterans and their families. "This is not a panacea."
Once the report is tabled, the federal government will have 60 days to respond.