Workplace safety board revisiting decision to withhold benefits from Afghan military interpreters

After initially telling former language and cultural advisers who worked alongside the Canadian military during the Afghan war that they do not qualify for post-traumatic stress benefits, the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) agreed Thursday to take a second look at the cases of at least six men.

The advisers performed some of the most dangerous and dirty work of the war. They acted as the Canadian Army's eyes and ears, sometimes going covertly into Taliban-controlled villages to gather information. They translated, eavesdropped on insurgent radio communications and guided commanders through the complicated cultural nuances of the war-ravaged province of Kandahar.

They are Canadian citizens of Afghan origin, specifically recruited by the army. As civilian contractors who worked for the Department of National Defence (DND), they were not entitled to veterans benefits.

When more than two dozen of them returned to Canada — some after serving more time overseas than most Canadian soldiers — their service and their injuries were overlooked.

After CBC News did a series of stories in 2019 about their plight and the Canadian Forces ombudsman took up their cause, DND shuffled them to the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

Over the past year, the WSIB has denied their benefits claims one by one, with case workers overruling the assessments of psychiatrists and social workers.

"It was the real face of bureaucracy," said Bashir Jamalzadah, the former cultural adviser to Col. Ian Hope, the first battle group commander for Canada's renewed Kandahar deployment in 2006.

"The real face of bureaucracy is too much bureaucracy and it's killing us."

When he signed up almost two decades ago, Jamalzadah said, he was assured he would be taken care of by the government should anything happen to him.

"I was expecting that this country will treat me as a citizen and will deal with me as a citizen, and take care of me as a citizen," said Jamalzadah, who cited Canada's abysmal treatment of Indigenous soldiers who fought in the two world wars.

"This is not the first time that the Canadian government is doing this. Basically, if we were not people of a different colour and a different ethnicity, it would have been great."

CBC News asked both DND and the WSIB for comment.  In response, the workplace injury board abruptly changed course.

'These folks are heroes'

Jeffery Lang, president and chief executive of the WSIB, said in a media statement that the files of Afghan language and cultural advisers who were denied benefits will now get a second look.

"The work people do on behalf of Canada in war torn countries is incredibly courageous and we should all be deeply grateful," he said.

"We are always learning more about work-related mental stress injuries, especially as they relate to first responders and those working on our behalf in a war zone like these individuals did. These folks are heroes and I have asked for a full review of each of their files with a new lens."

Lang said the board will be in touch with each of the individuals to discuss the review process in more detail.

CBC News reviewed the files and the WSIB letters of six former language and cultural advisers. In each of the cases, the men were sent to Homewood Health Centres for assessment; five of the six were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder directly related to their overseas service.

Case workers overruled medical assessments

In the sixth case, a former adviser was diagnosed with a "severe level of functional difficulties" related to his "occupational role" in Kandahar.

In all six cases, case workers overruled the findings and denied the advisers WSIB benefits.

All of them received letters that said their case worker was "unable to establish that the traumatic events you experienced while working at the Department of National Defence … caused or significantly contributed to your mental stress injury."

Jamal Jushan served multiple tours as an adviser with the Canadian Forces between 2006 and 2011 and began treatment for PTSD while still in Kandahar. He said he was angry with the WSIB decision because the case worker was not a doctor.

"She didn't appreciate my service," Jushan said. "She didn't understand my condition and I talked to her by the phone. She said, 'You do not deserve it, you're not qualified for any help."

'I went to hell'

For its part, DND reiterated its long-held position that federal contract employees are required to seek help through the WSIB. But in the case of these advisers, the department's casualty management branch has been working with the men to establish their claims.

"We are in constant communication with WSIB Ontario senior officials to ensure that [language and cultural advisers] and all employees receive the support to which they are entitled," said Dan Le Bouthilier, the head of media relations at DND.

Those sympathetic remarks mean little to former adviser Abdul Hamidi.

"I went to hell and I did that for this country and for my [birth] nation," Hamidi told CBC News, adding his PTSD has cost them everything he held dear.

"I dropped everything and when I came back, I lost my business. I lost my marriage and I lost my health."