FAIT Committee News Release

Ottawa, June 12, 1998 - Bill Graham, M.P., Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade announces that the Committee adopted the following resolution calling upon the Government to examine new information that has recently come to light regarding the claim of Canadian veterans againts Japan for forced labour while in captivity in Hong Kong during World War II:

Whereas the 2,100 Canadian military personnel captured in Hong Kong and held by the Japanese for 44 months during World War II suffered abuse and were forced into hard labour;

Whereas after deliberations, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade tabled a report in the House of Commons in May 1998 which urged the Government of Canada to: recognize the claim made by the veterans against Japan regarding the forced labour, pay equitable compensation to every Hong Kong veteran and examine the possibility of claiming the total amount from the Japanese Government according to international law;

Whereas new information has come to light since the tabling of this Report which may bear upon the legal issues involved and strengthen the case of the veterans;

The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade reiterates its call to pay equitable compensation to every Hong Kong veteran and recommends that the Canadian Government:

• Pursue this new information to determine if strengthens the case of the veterans;
• Work to resolve this issue as quickly as possible in light of its findings;
• Brief the Committee on developments as soon as possible after the return of Parliament in the fall, and, in any case, include a discussion of them in its response to the Committee’s report of May 1998.

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For more information, please contact:
Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(613) 996-1540