Daily BrewAbout-face: Government will pay for fallen soliders’ families to attend commemoration after all
The Conservative government has quickly back-pedalled from a plan to make the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan pay their own way to next month's commemorative ceremony in Ottawa for the campaign.
On Wednesday night, CTV News reported that it had obtained a letter dated last month inviting relatives of those who fought and died in Canada's decade-long mission to the May 9 National Day of Honour ceremony in Ottawa.
The letter from the Department of National Defence Director of Casualty Support Management invites families of the fallen to the capital to "commemorate our service and our sacrifices in order to achieve the security and stability we brought to Afghanistan."
The letter bills the event as a "momentous occasion," but goes on to say "your attendance would be at your own expense."
The reaction from some of the families of the 158 killed in Afghanistan was not surprising.
“It was kind of like, ‘We’re having this big special event and you can come if you want, but you have to buy your own ticket,’” Tim Goddard, whose daughter Capt. Nicola Goddard was the first female Canadian soldier to die in the conflict, told CTV News.
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Within hours of the story breaking, Defence Minister Rob Nicholson was in full retreat. He told CTV News late Wednesday he would be announcing “financial support for the families of the fallen travelling to Ottawa.”
On Thursday morning, Nicholson told the Commons defence committee the letter was all a big mistake.
"The letter was premature and incorrect and contained false information as event plans have not been finalized," Nicholson said, according to CBC News.
The government is proud to commemorate the Afghan mission, the minister said.
"That is why it is the government's position that these expenses will be covered," said Nicholson.
It's not the first time the government apparently has botched an event like this, CBC News noted.
Last year then-defence minister Peter MacKay unveiled a travelling memorial to Canada's Afghan fallen, but families complained they had not been given enough notice to be able to attend the event on Parliament Hill, CBC News reported at the time.
The "premature" letter is the latest piece of ammunition for critics who believe the Conservative government is happy to embrace Canada's military heritage to score political points but is tone deaf when it comes to dealing with the needs of those who fight the country's wars.
“This government will use the pain of others as a prop for their own political spin,” Liberal MP Wayne Easter told CTV News. “It is just so wrong.”
[ Related: Afghan veterans face bigger struggle than those who came before ]
The government has been under fire for some time over the services provided to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder – some who've committed suicide – and for reforms to the disability-benefit program for wounded vets that replaces a guaranteed pension with a lump-sum payment.
Priscilla Blake, whose husband Petty Officer Craig Blake died in an explosion in Kabul four years ago, told CTV News the money being used for next month's ceremony could be better spent on helping those veterans.
“They're coming back with medical problems, mental disabilities; they need money than we need a flight Ottawa,” she said.
The cost of the ceremony has not been revealed, but CTV News said a similar commemoration to mark Canada's role in the NATO-led mission to Libya cost $850,000.
The last Canadian troops, part of a contingent training Afghan's military in the Kabul area, left Afghanistan last month.
