Ombudsman launches probe of Ottawa's treatment of Afghan-Canadian military advisers

Canada's military ombudsman has launched a review of the Department of National Defence's (DND) treatment of former language and cultural advisers who served alongside Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

In a letter to Defence Minister Bill Blair, the acting watchdog, Robyn Hynes, said while her office has met with department staff several times over the past year, the advisers are still waiting for concrete action.

"While all parties have identified a desire to support these individuals, we have seen little movement on their access to support," Hynes wrote.

Last March, then-ombudsman Gregory Lick called on DND to make an exception for the handful of former advisers and offer special compensation for the injuries they suffered while supporting the army during five years of combat operations in Kandahar.

The advisers are all Canadian citizens of Afghan descent.

Hynes said the review of their treatment will be completed and published this fall.

When the Afghan war began, the army found itself with no Pashto or Dari speakers who understood Afghan culture. Between 2002 and 2009, DND recruited dozens of Afghan immigrants to Canada.

Without their help in the field, the army could not have fought the war.

Even though they wore uniforms, the advisers were civilian contractors, not soldiers. Many of them returned home from Afghanistan injured and broken.

They were permitted to apply for federal health benefits only within six months of their return. Unlike soldiers, they did not qualify for Veterans Affairs services.

CBC News has documented a number of their cases since 2018. The ombudsman's office has received a number of complaints about their treatment as well.

DND's answer to those complaints was to suggest that the advisers apply to the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), which is where injured federal employees are sent.

But many of the advisers' claims were rejected by the WSIB. Critics complained that the board had no experience in dealing with injuries sustained in a war zone.

The military ombudsman is dealing with about 65 cases of advisers whose claims were denied.

Before he departed the watchdog role in July, Lick recommended that DND make an exception and pay compensation to the advisers. He cited as precedent the federal government's decision in 2017 to pay cadets injured in a 1974 grenade explosion at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier in Quebec.