by Judi Mcleod
april 15, 2004
While the ahmed Khadr family’s Welcome Back to Canada Package includes rights entitling them to ready made health-care service and to apply for welfare, former Canadian soldiers--many who returned home wounded--are not afforded the same privileges.
The Khadr family, who arrived at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Easter weekend, is alleged to have links to Osama bin laden and al-Qaeda. On their return to the land of the Maple Leaf, the family was provided a police escort to a destination in Scarborough.
Many were sickened when Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty proclaimed that Ontario will "assume its responsibility" by offering the family health and social benefits. Canadian citizens Maha Elsamnah, her 14-year-old son, Karim, and his brother abdurahman Khadr, 21, will encounter no problems getting their aches and pains medically attended in Canada.
Not so for ailing soldier Matthew Stopford, who served in Croatia from 1993 to 1995. Waiting almost five years for the armed Forces to give him a pension, Stopford is legally blind and his body is plagued by painful arthritis.
Medical notes attached to the files of Canadian soldiers in Croatia indicate that some may have unknowingly been exposed to toxic salvage, including bauxite and P-C-B’s while serving as peacekeepers.
a good soldier only does his job and never ponders the content of the reddish-brown sand that fills the bags used for protection against the heavy shelling from enemy lines.
It’s one of the more shameful chapters in the Canadian military with former Defence Minister art Eggleton having admitted that he was told medical notes in some of the soldier’s files had been removed.
Since his return home, Stopford, a resident of Peterborough, Ont., has trouble sleeping, a gnawing pain in his joints, serious digestive disorders and has gone blind in one eye.
Incredibly, the fate of Matthew Stopford is not unique. Indeed, he is thought to be one of as many as 1.000 soldiers suffering from ailing health years after their return from peacekeeping duty in Croatia.
The same Canadian government at the ready to provide welcome open arms to what some Canadians call "terrorists" have not been able to solve the problems or ease the pain of Stopford and fellow soldiers.
The Khadr family headed back to Canada from Pakistan, purportedly to seek medical help better than Pakistan could provide for Karim. His father, ahmed, who U.S. intelligence officials say was an al-Qaeda financier and advisor to Osama bin Laden, was killed in the same battle where Karim was injured.
abdurahman Khadr returned to Canada last year after being released from U.S. detention in Guantanano Bay, Cuba. His 17-year-old brother, Omar Khadr, accused of killing a U.S. soldier, remains at Guantanano.
While health regulations stipulate that new or returning residents of Ontario must reside in the province for three months before being entitled to health care, no such regulations exist in collecting welfare.
Given their public statements, there is no room in second guessing the sentiments of the Khadr family. Mother Elsamnah told Canadian television reporters she would be proud to have her children become suicide bombers. She said she sent her four sons to al-Qaeda training camps because it was better than raising them in Canada.
Commenting on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks her daughter, Zaynab had this to say: "They deserve it. They’ve been doing it for such a long time, why shouldn’t they feel it once in awhile?"
While the government steps in to "assume responsibility", many average Canadians are outraged with the return of the Khadrs to Canadian soil.
"after serving my country for 30 years, including two United Nations tours, I cannot believe my government is welcoming these terrorists back to Canada with open arms," Earl Brown, of Trenton, Ont. wrote in a letter to the editor.
"God help our troops in afghanistan, because the people trying to kill them are welcome here while they are risking their lives for us overseas."
Ironically, Brown has not been able to find a family doctor to treat him since his retirement.
The words that end his letter could not be more fitting for the ending of this story: "I am sure that Karim Khadr will receive the best medical treatment Canada has to offer. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?"
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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