Soldiers forced to repay Forces‘ food allowance
Ombudsman calls troops victims of ‘broken promises‘
Mike Blanchfield
CanWest News Service
Monday, March 08, 2004
The Canadian Forces clawed back $30,000 in meal allowances from 10 corporals it sent on a four-month training course, after deciding that their $50-a-day per diem was too high and would be cut to $17.50.
The decision forced at least two of the soldiers to seek loans to repay as much as $3,000 each from the four months they spent in the spring and summer of 2002 learning a new air force traffic control system in Richmond, B.C. The Forces ombudsman has slammed the military for "unfairness" and "broken promises" and called on them to compensate the soldiers.
"In the end, there can be only one conclusion. The broken promise has harmed members of the Canadian Forces. Fairness demands that they not be left to suffer," Ombudsman Andre Marin concludes in his report, which is to be made public today.
The matter is far from settled. Marin‘s recommendations are not binding on the military. But his report will land squarely in the lap of Defence Minister David Pratt, who has been an outspoken supporter of recent government initiatives that raised the quality of life of soldiers through modest pay and benefit increases.
The measures were designed to restore a decade of sagging morale among the rank and file.
When investigators from the ombudsman‘s office approached the military‘s Director of Compensation and Benefits Administration branch in December 2002 to try to settle the per diem claim, they received an icy reception.
"The bottom line is that DND is not a benefits smorgasborg (sic) and if military mbrs (sic) desire to be treated as civilians then there are options available," a senior official with the benefits branch snapped back to Marin‘s office in an e-mail.
Eventually, the two sides agreed to knock about $800 off each of the soldiers‘ debts, reducing the average to $2,200.
The conflict began in early 2002 when the Forces went looking for volunteer technicians to train on their new Military Automated Air Traffic System at the offices of defence contractor Raytheon Systems in Richmond, B.C.
The 102-day course ran from February to June. The Forces offered $50 a day to participants to cover the cost of their three meals.
The military paid the per diems in advance of the Feb. 23, 2002, start date for the course. On March 4, 2002, the students were informed their per diem was being cut to $17.50 a day.
But the students were reassured by their instructors and commanders back on their home bases that the $50-a-day promise would be honoured, and not to worry.
Then in October 2002, they were told they would be forced to repay the Defence Department 65 per cent of their per diems, about $3,000 each. At the time, annual salaries for corporals ranged from $43,644 to $53,808.
But by then, the money had been spent by many of the military families.
"According to the students we have spoken to, the per diem offered was an important factor in their decision to leave their homes and families for almost four months," says the report.
Two soldiers have had to take out loans.
"One complainant states he is reluctant to tell his wife about the error before it becomes absolutely necessary, because she will worry about the impact of repayment on the family budget."
The report says awareness of the treatment of the soldiers has had an adverse effect on morale.
"We have already started to receive indications that no students will be made available (for the next two courses) if this issue is not resolved," said an e-mail by a senior official.
© The Calgary Herald 2004
