Compensation to Afghan civilians under wraps
Murray Brewster The Canadian Press
OTTAWA-There have been at least eight instances in the last two years where the Canadian government has dipped into its pocket to compensate Afghan civilians or their families for accidental deaths or injuries.
But details of the settlements remain a closely held secret, despite calls in the Manley commission report for the Conservative government to be more open and forthright.
The Justice Department, which shares responsibility with the Defence Department for ex-gratia payments, refused to release any details.
A recent access to information request by The Canadian Press was returned almost entirely censored.
Federal officials refused a subsequent request to release a figure for what has been paid out since Canadian troops deployed to Kandahar in early 2006.
Opposition parties say the information is being suppressed for political reasons because the notion of civilian casualties - however inadvertent - is embarrassing to a government that made helping Afghans the central pillar of its strategy to extend the mission to 2011.
“We have no problem if they blank out the names and some of the details, but c’mon, this is taxpayers’ money,” said Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre.
“The public should know at least - at the very least - how much we have spent and what (the) criteria is for compensation … even if it’s only a few thousand dollars, it shouldn’t be a secret.”
New Democrat defence critic Dawn Black accused the Tories of trying to keep the truth from the public.
“They don’t want Canadians to know what’s happening in the war in Afghanistan,” she said. “In this case and others, they’re trying to control the story and make it a sanitized version of what’s happening.”
A call to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson’s office last week was not returned. Justice officials were asked to respond to questions about ex-gratia payments, but the queries were eventually sent over to National Defence. The military said it wasn’t able to respond.
Coderre said the question of how payments are handled is vital because Afghan civilians who are accidentally injured or killed by Canadian soldiers have no legal right to compensation from Ottawa.
Instead, restitution depends upon an obscure claims process that provides payments according to “moral considerations.”
The waiver was signed in December 2005 by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier and remained secret for six months. It became public through an access to information request filed by The Canadian Press in the summer of 2006.
Over 30 pages of information on ex-gratia payments made since February 2006 were released by the Justice Department after a follow up access to information request by the news agency.
The records are almost entirely censored, but indicate at least eight payments were made between March 2006 and the end of 2007.
A subsequent search of public accounts documents, which are tabled openly in Parliament, turned up as many as eight ex-gratia payments to individuals with potentially Afghan surnames.
The payments ranged from $1,971 to $31,584.
The agreement signed by Hillier states that “Canadian personnel will not be liable for any damages to private or government property.”
Under the arrangement, civilians can submit damage claims and lawyers deployed with the troops are allowed to make payments up to $2,000.
“Any higher amount must be approved by the deputy minister,” said an undated Defence Department note. “In most circumstances, ex-gratia payments should not be made.”
Part of the secrecy involves a genuine concern for the safety of Afghan families being compensated.
In the spring of 2006 the family of an Afghan man, mistakenly shot dead by a Canadian soldier at police checkpoint, received a settlement.
But the officer commanding the mission at the time - Brig.-Gen. David Fraser - warned that revealing compensation details would potentially make the family targets of bandits.
