FAIT Committee News Release

Ottawa, December 11, 1998 - Bill Graham, M.P., Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, on behalf of all Committee members, commends the Minister of Veterans Affairs’ decision to provide compensation to the Canadian military personnel captured in Hong Kong (and their widows) for forced labour performed during their imprisonment during World War II. The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade held two hearings in which it heard from representatives of the prisoners of war as well as from officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

"Committee members are enormously pleased that the Government has carried out their recommendation on this issue," said Mr. Graham. "We were very moved by the eloquent testimony of the Hong Kong Veterans, and strongly believe that they deserve tangible recognition for the terrible conditions they suffered and for the forced labour they endured during their imprisonment."

The Committee recognizes that the Hong Kong Veterans were seeking compensation from the Japanese government, but that the Canadian government is undertaking this humanitarian step because the Japanese government has refused to consider changing its position.

The Committee passed an all-party resolution in December 1997 urging the Canadian government to "compensate each Hong Kong veteran for forced labour carried out during World War II", and then to "examine the possibility of claiming the total amount from the Japanese government according to International Law." The Committee also passed another resolution in June, 1998 calling upon the Government to examine new information that had come to light in the British archives regarding the claim of the Hong Kong Veterans. These resolutions were tabled in the House of Commons, and Minister Mifflin’s announcement today serves as an official response to the Committee request.

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For more information, please contact:

Bill Graham, M.P.

Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade

(613) 992-5234