Ombudsman blasts Ottawa’s ‘inadequate’ efforts to help injured Afghan military advisers

The country’s military ombudsman says efforts by the Department of National Defence (DND) to get care and treatment for former language and cultural advisers who worked with Canadian soldiers during the Afghan war have been “inadequate or nonexistent.”

Gregory Lick delivered that assessment in a recent letter to Defence Minister Bill Blair, who took over the portfolio in the summer.

A copy of the letter was obtained by CBC News, which first reported in 2019 on the plight of Afghan advisers — all of whom are all Canadian citizens of Afghan origin.

Many of the advisers did multiple tours during Canada’s five-year combat mission in Kandahar and many returned home with multiple health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

Because they were contract employees, the advisers were not eligible for the federal benefits available to soldiers — even though some of them spent more time on combat operations than many Canadian soldiers who served in-theater.

“The care for these former Language and Cultural Advisors is a moral obligation, and their well-being is a Government of Canada responsibility,” Lick wrote in the Sept, 29 letter.

Without the advisers, he said, the army could not have fought the war.

“This is poised to become a shameful chapter in Canada’s military history,” he wrote.

Deadly assignments

Working with individual commanders and units, the Afghan advisers carried out some of the toughest and most dangerous assignments of the war — gathering intelligence on the Taliban, warning of attacks, eavesdropping on insurgent communications and providing commanders with insights into the local culture.

Following a CBC News report in the fall of 2019, DND helped the former advisers prepare applications for assistance to the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) — which is where injured federal employees are sent.

But the wounds suffered by the advisers in a war zone, Lick said, bear no resemblance to civilian workplace mishaps or bones broken at home.

“To date, their efforts to seek treatment and care for their mental and physical needs sustained while supporting our troops have been met with inaction,” Lick wrote. “Both medical treatment and injury financial compensation have been inadequate or non-existent.”

Last spring, the WSIB dismissed benefits claims made by more than a dozen former advisers. WSIB case workers overruled the assessments of psychiatrists and social workers.

Just as CBC News was about to publish a report on the rejected claims, the board agreed to take a second look at the cases.

The WSIB “adjudications have so far been unfavorable,” Lick told Blair, adding he wonders whether the board is “adequately calibrated for these deliberations.”

A spokesperson for the WSIB indicated that the agency has been working with 17 claims involving former military language and cultural advisers. The ombudsman has been in contact separately with 15 of those 17 claimants.

Each of the claimants has been contacted by WSIB, the board spokesperson said.

“We are working as quickly and thoroughly as possible,” Christine Arnott, WSIB public affairs manager, told CBC News.

“Sometimes, reaching a determination can take longer than we’d like as we need to obtain medical, employment and other relevant information from many years ago.”

Arnott said decisions will be made on the outstanding claims over the next several weeks and will contain detailed explanations for the advisers to consider.

But Lick argues the advisers as a group present unique circumstances that aren’t comparable to those of other injured federal employees and the federal government owes them a duty.

Late Thursday, Blair acknowledged meeting with the ombudsman and said he’s looking for a solution within government.

“I’ve had conversations with with the our Veterans Affairs minister,” Blair said at an event at Garrison Petawawa, Ont. “We’re continuing to look at ways in which we can support those people … because we understand that they worked for us, and we want to make sure that we help them in every way possible.”

He said the government is “examining what those supports might be, what might be required, and also the best way to make sure that they are available to them.”

The ombudsman said some kind of federal intervention is necessary.

“My office has evaluated the treatment of these fifteen former ” advisers, Lick wrote.

“Additionally, our office has read many of the WSIB’s decisions. While I do not have the mandate to review or assess the fairness of WSIB decisions, it appears that their system was not designed to deal with employees in positions similar to those held by the language and cultural advisers.

“Despite recent efforts by [DND] to provide validation to WSIB in support of their claims, meaningful relief has not been forthcoming.”

The ombudsman said there’s precedent for carving out a special program for the former advisers. Lick pointed to federal compensation for the 1974 explosion at a Cadet camp at CFB Valcartier.

“My predecessor’s investigation report and recommendations led to the CAF establishing a robust program to assist those who were affected, injured, and killed in the incident,” the ombudsman wrote.