CALGARY, Alberta — Hundreds of former Canadian soldiers will receive compensation for being assigned to participate in atomic bomb test explosions by the U.S. and British militaries in the 1960s, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
Defense Minister Peter MacKay said the soldiers were involved in operations in the United States, Australia and the South Pacific from the end of World War II until the international treaty banning atmospheric test explosions was signed in 1963.
Canada’s government will also compensate former military personnel who assisted with emergency decontamination efforts at the Chalk River nuclear plant in Ontario following two major nuclear reactor accidents in 1952 and 1958, MacKay said.
In total, 900 former soldiers or families of deceased veterans will receive payments of $22,000 each, Mackay said.
“All those who serve their country, past or present, deserve the respect, admiration and care of a grateful nation,” he said in a statement.
Many of the surviving former soldiers have complained of health problems associated with being exposed to radioactivity during the test blasts or the nuclear cleanups.
The nature and extent of Canadian participation in the nuclear tests was not fully known until a study was commissioned by the government in 2006.
In a report published last year, historian John Clearwater identified approximately 700 former soldiers who participated in up to 29 American and British nuclear weapons trials between 1946 and 1963. The tests attempted to simulate battlefield conditions expected in a nuclear war.
The report also identified about 200 ex-soldiers who helped decontaminate the Chalk River plant, where their duties included mopping and scrubbing buildings tainted with radioactivity.
“The duties involved specialized training and/or unique operational deployments unlike any other carried out by the Canadian Forces and members of the National Defense Department.
Until now these veterans have received no recognition of their exceptional service to Canada under these circumstances,” MacKay said.
