Blacklock’s newsroom pauses this week for our annual August holiday. We bid all our friends and subscribers a happy summer break and safe journey on your travels. Blacklock’s returns August 8 — The Editor.
A pledge from Canada Border Services Agency to fix long-standing problems with a costly information technology system is drawing skepticism from MPs. The Agency since 2013 has been cited for failing to streamline computer databases that cost taxpayers millions: “They never get to where they need to go”.
The longest-running pension dispute at Veterans Affairs Canada has ended unhappily for a British Columbia family. A federal judge expressed sorrow but dismissed compensation for 1954 injuries suffered by an RCAF officer.
“I say to people, you must never give up,” said Carol Nicol, widow of pension claimant Flying Officer Robert Nicol of Qualicum Beach, B.C. “The judge seemed sympathetic and I had my spirits lifted, and then when I read the decision, he just recited arguments the government has made all along. Oh, I can’t even tell you the disappointment.”
Federal Judge Yves de Montigny rejected a claim for benefits that saw six decades’ worth of lost appeals over a narrow definition of whether Nicol was on duty when he suffered injuries. The fighter pilot left the air force in 1957 to become a realtor; he died of cancer in 2003. “In the last year of his life he was still calling the appeal office in Charlottetown,” Mrs. Nicol said. “He felt he had been wronged and was entitled to his pension. Bob always felt they did not honour what happened to him.”
Nicol was hurt in an auto accident near Zweibrücken, Germany after driving home with his commanding officer and other colleagues from a July 1 squadron picnic. Nicol, a passenger, was thrown from the car after the driver fell asleep and veered into a tree. “He was in a full body cast for almost a year,” said Mrs. Nicol; “He had seven major surgeries.”
Mrs. Nicol said numerous broken bones left her husband with lifelong complications. “He had extreme pain for years,” she said. “Walking was difficult for him. He would come home from work and just look grey.”
Nicol unsuccessfully appealed for benefits before various federal boards and tribunals in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1978. Government attorneys argued each time his injuries were “not pensionable” by claiming he was technically off duty at the time of the accident.
“It just seemed like it was rubber stamped,” Mrs. Nicol said. “It was really bad. After Bob died I just couldn’t handle it, to be honest. The thought of pursuing this was too much; but I only took it up because the Royal Canadian Legion and the newspapers said if you had an outstanding case, it was worthwhile to ask for reconsideration.”
Fell In A “Grey Zone”
Judge Montigny agreed the Nicol case fell in a “grey zone” but added: “A line has to be drawn”; “There is no dispute between the parties that the severe medical disabilities that afflicted the applicant’s husband flowed from his injuries sustained in the car accident that occurred on July 1, 1954. The only real issue is whether these injuries ‘arose out of or were directly connected’ with military service”, the judge wrote.
“The fact he had the misfortune to hitch a ride with fellow officers in a car whose driver dozed off and had an accident does not make up for this lack of connection,” wrote Montigny. “The Armed Forces played no role in Mr. Nicol’s choice to come to the picnic as a passenger in another officer’s car.”
The Court would not accept as evidence a letter from a former vice marshal of the 413th squadron that Nicol was on duty at the time; and dismissed an official history of the squadron that noted the 1954 picnic, suggesting attendance was compulsory.
Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent would not comment on specifics of the Nicol case, but said the lengthy appeals pointed to a common difficulty in pension disputes. “The complications in these types of cases is the determination of being ‘on duty’,” Parent said. “Fortunately we have come a long way in defining on-duty and off-duty.”
“Today personnel on a mission are considered on-duty 24 hours a day,” Parent said. “I just hope today with more liberal interpretations people will not go through this again.”
Mrs. Nicol described the decades of appeals as exhausting but expressed no regrets for pursuing the case. “People give up because it takes up so much energy to take this on,” she said. “I went to this extent in memory of my husband, and to see justice for all those veterans who are in the same position.”
“I feel our veterans should get the benefit of the doubt,” said Mrs. Nicol. “If everybody did what Bob did, hopefully we would all make a difference.”
Mrs. Nicol noted the original determination of her husband’s status was made three days after the accident, as the then-20 year old lay in a hospital bed at Landsthul, Germany. “They questioned him when he was still sedated,” she said. Federal Court acknowledged Nicol “may still have been in a state of shock” when he was interviewed and “may not have fully grasped the consequences of his statement”; “His testimony and that of his fellow passengers is nevertheless very relevant in determining whether attendance was compulsory,” the judge said. The Nicols had appealed for a pension worth some $1,000 a month.
By Tom Korski 
Decades of data are being reviewed by Health Canada investigators to find links between ozone pollution and urban death rates. The study is the latest commissioned by regulators amid growing evidence that city air causes illness and mortality: “There is no safe threshold”.
Industry Canada is conducting a six-figure survey of small business debt for the first time since doubling loan limits under its Small Business Financing Program. Cabinet last January 23 raised the maximum loan to $1 million and extended terms from ten to 15 years: “We certainly didn’t ask for it”.
Outdated landfill sites may pose a risk to water supplies across the country, say analysts. There are more than 10,000 landfills nationwide, by Statistics Canada estimate: “They were unplanned and un-engineered sites”.
An airport baggage handler fired over unproven allegations of drug smuggling has won an appeal against Transport Canada. It is the second time in four months that a federal judge cited the department for unfairly revoking security clearances: ‘He was denied a meaningful opportunity to address the allegations’.
The Royal Canadian Navy paid $500 apiece for T-shirts and ball caps as part of a ‘brand awareness’ program. The navy said it sought lowest-cost bidders for the contract to clothe its official mascot, a sailor in a dog costume: ‘It will increase awareness of the navy brand’.
Saskatchewan has the highest enrollment of any province in a federally-managed reading program for boys and girls, data show. Enrollment in the subsidized TD Summer Reading Club is up to three times the rate in other provinces.
“Saskatchewan has historically had a very high participation rate,” said Lianne Fortin, club program manager for Library & Archives Canada. Of all elementary school-age children, nine percent enrolled in the reading club in Saskatchewan according to a Harris Decima audit commissioned by the national library.
“The club is there to promote lifelong reading for boys and girls,” Fortin said. “Libraries are changing. It is no longer, ‘Shhh – no talking’; libraries are reinventing themselves to become places where new ideas are created.”
The audit Final Report On Program Statistics found 289,542 children nationwide enrolled in the Summer Reading Club that encourages library visits for recommended novels and non-fiction works. Girls outnumber boys in the program: “I can’t guess why,” Fortin said. “There is definitely a push to get boys to read more.”
About half of club members become repeat library users according to ten years’ worth of national data. Saskatchewan’s 9 percent enrollment is followed by Alberta, Nova Scotia and Ontario (6 percent); Prince Edward Island (5 percent); Manitoba (4 percent); Québec and Newfoundland & Labrador (3 percent). There were no data for New Brunswick or British Columbia. Statistics were based on user rates from 757 library systems.
Among 6 to 8-year olds, club enrollment in Saskatchewan peaked at 20 percent — the highest in the country, compared to 15 percent in neighbouring Alberta and 11 percent in Manitoba. “We really do push the summer reading programs,” said Gwen Schmidt, president of the Saskatchewan Library Association. “In Saskatoon every librarian will go to 12 schools to speak to the children.” Current titles recommended in the children’s reading club include:
“Libraries are growing and changing,” Schmidt said. “The internet is not an enemy of the library in any way. The challenge is that there is so much electronic information, how do you know what is current and truthful? There is a real place for libraries to help develop critical thinking skills.”
Schmidt attributed the high Saskatchewan usage rates in part to a 2010 Integrated Library System enacted under the province’s Public Libraries Act. It allows readers with any locally-issued card to access most catalogued items in any other library in the province. “Libraries in Saskatchewan are on the forefront of program changes and community connections,” Schmidt said.
Bookseller Amazon.ca in 2013 also rated Saskatoon and Regina among the Top Five per capita book buyers in the nation, along with Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.
By Tom Korski
Transport Canada is commissioning $175,000 in research on whether to upgrade safety systems at every grade-level rail crossing in the country. Regulators reported 180 crossing accidents last year resulting in 21 deaths: “Believe it or not it was an improvement”.
Canadians are resigned to invasions of privacy by government agencies and inadequate protection of personal data, says federal research. Polling by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner concluded Canadians feel “powerless” to protect personal information: “Most expect they are being watched and recorded pretty much everywhere now”.
Parks Canada is spending $120,000 for keyword searches of media and Twitter commentaries to see what Canadians are saying about the agency. Similar keyword contracts by other federal departments covered a wide range of themes from “gangs” to “oil spill” to “electric cars”.
New research confirms plant diversity may hold the key to reducing species losses worldwide, says an Alberta co-author. The research proposed changes in land use by park managers and ranchers to conserve plants and reduce harmful impacts of drought and erosion: ‘Biodiversity is the greatest insurance’.
A telecom discounter best known for its celebrity endorsement by ex-Leafs enforcer Tie Domi is under federal investigation for misleading advertising. Evidence submitted to a federal judge by the Competition Bureau includes copies of a Comwave Networks Inc. ad with the former NHL strongman: “You don’t have to be Tie Domi to stand up to the big guys!”
Air passenger complaints to the Canadian Transportation Agency account for a small fraction, less than a hundredth of one percent, of the number of actual passengers, according to new data. The Agency said it received 396 complaints against Air Canada and WestJet last year; the two airlines carry some 40 million passengers a year, by official estimate.
“The system is broken,” said Dr. Gábor Lukács, a Halifax-based passenger rights advocate; “These complaints are minuscule. I think the main problem is the government has stalled any efforts to see an actual passengers’ rights bill in Canada.”
The Agency in its 2015 Annual Report to cabinet said it received only handfuls of complaints against other Canadian carriers including 19 at Porter Airlines; 29 at Sunwing; and 66 against Air Canada’s Jazz subsidiary. More than 122 million passengers get on and off aircraft each year in Canada, according to a 2013 StatsCan report Air Carrier Traffic At Canadian Airports.
“Contrary to what the Agency says, complaints procedures at the Agency are very complicated,” Lukács said. “Self-represented passengers are at a clear disadvantage, and retaining a lawyer is difficult since the Agency does not provide for costs.”
“The Agency is not doing its job,” Lukács said. “It is complacent though it has all the tools. It should be investigating compliance issues on its own initiative.”
Lukács attributed the low rate of complaints in part to collegiality between regulator and industry. Simona Sasova, Agency management of enforcement, in 2014 cross-examination in a federal lawsuit initiated by Lukács described cordial relationships with airline executives: “Is it your practice to be on a first-name basis with executives of corporations against whom you take enforcement actions?” Sasova was asked. “Yes,” she replied; “It is a common practice.”
Typical air passenger complaints to the regulator include lost or damaged baggage and flight disruptions. In its Annual Report the Agency noted the number of complaints it received last year against Canadian carriers actually rose from the year before, and numbered only 301 in 2013: “The increase in the number of complaints submitted about Canadian air carriers could be due, in part, to the public’s awareness of the Agency’s dispute resolution services stemming from media coverage and Agency outreach efforts around significant Agency decisions.”
More Like 50,000 Complaints
However internal documents earlier obtained under Access To Information confirm the Agency is aware it hears of only a tiny fraction of valid service issues, and does not even have statistical data to monitor airlines performance. Staff in a confidential Assessment Of Air Passenger Level Of Service Indicators In Canada complained they have no “official data” on flight delays, misplaced baggage or overbookings since airlines are not required to publish performance records. “Very few publicly-available level of service indicators – government or private sector – are available in Canada,” Assessment noted.
Complaints to the Agency are likely only “two-thousands of one percent” of actual service issues, Assessment noted: “Agency staff report that an Air Canada representative suggested the carrier received around 20,000 complaints annually but this anecdotal report is now dated and was for a single air carrier only. Lacking firm data, a range of between 20,000 and 50,000 annual air passenger complaints to Canadian airlines is not an unreasonable estimate.”
“Although air carriers do not publish data on the number of complaints they receive, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that for every complaint they receive, the air carriers receive around 50,” Assessment continued. “Although there are significant differences between the two jurisdictions, applying the same ratio to Canada results in an estimate of approximately 40,000 complaints in 2010-11.”
Parliament in 2013 defeated private New Democrat Bill C-459 An Act Respecting The Rights Of Air Passengers that would have mandated compensation of up to $1,000 for travelers affected by flight cancellations or delays. The Agency’s Assessment memo acknowledged Canada is one of the few countries without legislation on passenger rights and minimum statutory compensation for delays, flight cancellations and denial of boarding.
By Tom Korski
