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This document was prepared by the staff of the Parliamentary Research Branch to provide Canadian Parliamentarians with plain language background and analysis of proposed government legislation. Legislative summaries are not government documents. They have no official legal status and do not constitute legal advice or opinion. Please note, the Legislative Summary describes the bill as of the date shown at the beginning of the document. For the latest published version of the bill, please consult the parliamentary internet site at www.parl.gc.ca.


LS-317E

BILL S-19:  AN ACT TO GIVE FURTHER RECOGNITION
TO THE WAR-TIME SERVICE OF CANADIAN MERCHANT
NAVY VETERANS AND TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR
FAIR AND EQUITABLE TREATMENT

 

Prepared by
Grant Purves
Political and Social Affairs Division
16 September 1998

 


 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF BILL S-19

 

HOUSE OF COMMONS

SENATE

Bill Stage Date Bill Stage Date
First Reading:   First Reading: 18 June 1998
Second Reading:   Second Reading:  
Committee Report:   Committee Report:  
Report Stage:   Report Stage:  
Third Reading:   Third Reading:  


Royal Assent:
Statutes of Canada







N.B. Any substantive changes in this Legislative Summary which have been made since the preceding issue are indicated in bold print.

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS


BACKGROUND

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

   A. Preamble

   B. Clause 1: Short Title

   C. Clause 2: Interpretation

   D. Clause 3: Purpose of the Act

   E. Clause 4: Equal Benefits

   F. Clause 5: Memorial Ceremonies

   G. Clause 6: Preservation of Remedies

COMMENTARY

 


BILL S-19:  AN ACT TO GIVE FURTHER RECOGNITION
TO THE WAR-TIME SERVICE OF CANADIAN MERCHANT
NAVY VETERANS AND TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR
FAIR AND EQUITABLE TREATMENT

BACKGROUND

Bill S-19, the Merchant Navy War Service Recognition Act, was introduced in the Senate on 18 June 1998 by its sponsor, the Hon. Michael J. Forrestall, and was scheduled for second reading on 6 October 1998. The objective of Bill S-19, as set out in the formal Summary, is twofold: to ensure that "the discrimination in treatment accorded merchant navy veterans… will not be extended by future legislation insofar as benefits to merchant navy war veterans and their dependents are concerned" and to ensure that the Government of Canada bestows equal recognition on the merchant navy and its veterans and representatives.

By the end of World War II, the Canadian merchant marine had grown to 180 ships and 12,000 mariners. Sixty-seven ships had been lost at a human cost of 1,146 persons and, of the 7,705 seamen credited with sailing in dangerous waters, 198 had been taken prisoner. Despite being referred to as the "fourth arm of the fighting services" during the war, merchant navy veterans were denied veteran status and many of the benefits offered military veterans after the war. Merchant mariners were not offered access to most of the programs designed to speed military veterans’ adjustment to civilian life. While programs for retraining and education encouraged other veterans to undertake high school, technical, college and university courses of their choosing, merchant navy veterans were offered only such educational assistance as would reinforce their careers as seamen. Able-bodied merchant navy veterans were also denied access to programs offering veterans low-cost loans to start up a business or acquire a farm, and did not qualify for the civil service hiring preference extended to military veterans.

Within a short time the government dream of an expanding merchant marine service that would employ the merchant navy veterans had turned into a nightmare. By 1948, Transport Canada admitted that there was employment for fewer than 4,000 of the 10,000 wartime merchant seamen. Although the career opportunities of the vast majority of merchant navy veterans had disappeared, the government did not, even at this late date, offer them any assistance in changing careers or finding employment in the public service. A disproportionate number of merchant navy veterans became impoverished as a result of not receiving adequate government support.

Since the 1960s, the government has moved to reduce the gap between the treatment of military and merchant navy veterans. In 1962, merchant mariners and other categories of civilians who had served in close support of the military became eligible for a civilian version of the means-tested War Veterans Allowance; and in 1976, merchant seamen were included in the Compensation for Former Prisoners of War Act, although the benefits were based on the service patterns of military veterans.

Over the past decade, merchant navy veterans have made a concerted effort to unite and press for full recognition as veterans and for programs and benefits equal to those of military veterans. The government accepted the principles of full recognition and of equality in 1992, but progress toward achieving this goal to the reasonable satisfaction of merchant navy veterans has been slow.

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

   A. Preamble

The Preamble sets out the bill’s frame of reference. Among other things, it asserts the following:

  • that the full extent of the dangers and casualty rates faced by merchant seamen in the World Wars and Korean conflict has yet to be fully acknowledged on behalf of the people of Canada;

  • that Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.A. have more fully recognized the war-time service of their merchant navies;

  • that, since merchant navy veterans are now about 80 years old, there is only a short time left to redress the injustice done them; and

  • that, since many merchant ships were armed, service on them was akin to service in the armed forces.

   B. Clause 1: Short Title

The Act would be cited as the Merchant Navy War Service Recognition Act.

   C. Clause 2: Interpretation

Clause 2(1) would establish a broad definition of "merchant navy war veteran." For the purposes of the bill, a merchant navy war veteran would be: a person who, during World War I or World War II or the Korean conflict, served on a Canadian ship; a Canadian national or resident of Newfoundland who served on an allied ship during World War I or II, or who was committed to serve on a Canadian or allied ship in World War I or II but was killed, injured or disabled in training or in a theatre of war and was thus unable to do so.

The Merchant Navy Veteran and Civilian War-related Benefits Act,(1) which deals with war pensions and allowances for merchant navy veterans and civilians, limits the definition of eligible "merchant navy veteran" to seamen who made a "high seas voyage" during World War I or II, or a "high seas voyage in dangerous waters" during the Korean conflict, or Canadian nationals who were awarded the 1939-45 Star (a service medal awarded to merchant seamen).

   D. Clause 3: Purpose of the Act

Clause 3, which sets out the purpose of the bill, is essential to understanding the legislation. The purpose of the bill would be "to compel the end of legislative and governmental discrimination against merchant navy war veterans in the distribution of awards and benefits and in public ceremonies of acknowledgement for war-time services … so that merchant navy war veterans will, in the future, receive similar and equal treatment to that provided to the war veterans of the armed forces of Canada."

   E. Clause 4: Equal Benefits

Clause 4(1) would invalidate any federal Act that "would make any provision for a financial or other benefit to war veterans of the armed forces of Canada who served in World War I, World War II or the Korean conflict or their dependants…unless the Act makes provision for a like benefit to merchant navy war veterans or their dependants."

The wording of the English text leaves some doubt as to whether the provision would render invalid all future, but not existing, federal legislation granting benefits to war veterans. The French text, however, appears to cover both existing and future legislation. Both the English and the French versions of the Summary referred to above suggest that the drafter intended to restrict future, not existing legislation.

Clause 4(2) is an escape clause that would allow legislation otherwise rendered invalid under clause 4(1) to continue in force or come into force. In order to override clause 4(1), the legislation in question would expressly have to state that it would prevail over Bill S-19.

   F. Clause 5: Memorial Ceremonies

At present, representatives of merchant navy veterans claim that their treatment on formal memorial occasions continues to be unequal to that accorded to representatives of the army, navy and air force.

Clause 5 stipulates that the Government of Canada would not be able to participate in or participate in the funding or organizing of, any ceremony, in Canada or abroad, to commemorate Remembrance Day or the Battle of the Atlantic, or to honour or remember prisoners or casualties of World Wars I and II or the Korean conflict unless a recognized representative of the merchant navy war veterans had been invited to attend and participate on a basis equal to that of the representative of any military veteran organization.

   G. Clause 6: Preservation of Remedies

Clause 6 stipulates that Bill S-19 would not restrict or prejudicially affect the efforts of merchant navy war veterans to achieve equal treatment under other federal Acts and their regulations with regard to benefits and awards already provided to war veterans of the armed forces.

COMMENTARY

Bill S-19 is unlikely to win the support or favour of the Department of Veterans Affairs or of organizations representing other than merchant navy veterans. Most of the present legislation applying to veterans would have to be re-drafted to comply with the bill’s provisions, and in the meantime, kept in force by amendments passed under clause 4(2).

 


(1) R.S.C. 1985, Chap. C-31, as amended.