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: |
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First Reading: |
18 June 1998 |
Second Reading: |
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Second Reading: |
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Committee Report: |
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Committee Report: |
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Report Stage: |
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Report Stage: |
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Third Reading: |
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Third Reading: |
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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.
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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 bills
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 bills 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. |