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Former Canadian soldiers to be compensated for Atomic bomb tests

By matt carter ⋅ September 4, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

From the Department of It’s About Time

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.

Tags: atomic bomb, canada, world war II