Coverage of fallen soldiers banned

CFB Trenton bars media from base 'U.S.-style tactics' condemned
Toronto Star
Apr. 26, 2006

OTTAWA - The Conservative government is refusing to allow media to cover tonight's return of four Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, a surprise decision that has critics accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of adopting American-style tactics to limit public exposure to Canada's casualties.

From the start of the Afghan mission four years ago, media have been permitted to cover the solemn ceremony that surrounds the unloading of the caskets of soldiers killed overseas.

But tonight, reporters and television crews attempting to cover the return of the bodies of the soldiers killed by a roadside bomb north of Kandahar on Saturday will find themselves barred from the base on orders of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor.

O'Connor defended the decision, saying he kicked out media to respect the privacy of the families.

"It is a private and solemn event between the families and the Canadian Forces," a defence spokesperson said on behalf of the minister.

Opposition MPs immediately accused the Prime Minister of adopting American-style tactics to limit public exposure to Canada's mounting death toll — now at 16 — in Afghanistan.

"I can't imagine any other Canadian prime minister trying to manipulate public opinion by hiding the caskets of fallen soldiers," said Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh (Vancouver South), the party's defence critic.

"He has borrowed a page from Bush's book," Dosanjh said, accusing the government of following practices of the George W. Bush administration, which has sought to limit media coverage when American casualties are brought home from Iraq.

"I find it absolutely un-Canadian," Dosanjh said. "He hopes that out of sight is out of mind. Canadians are not going to accept that."

It's also known the Prime Minister's Office is not happy having reporters embedded with the military in Afghanistan because of the high profile the mission is getting back home. Yesterday's action spurred further questions on whether the government will bar media from the Afghanistan mission entirely.

The bodies of Cpl. Matthew Dinning of Richmond Hill, Ont., Bombardier Myles Mansell, of Victoria, B.C., Lieut. William Turner of Toronto and Cpl. Randy Payne from CFB Wainright, Alta., are expected to arrive at CFB Trenton today.

More than 50 years ago, the toils and tolls of Canadians in the Korea conflict were front-page news for newspapers in the early 1950s. For instance, the leading headline of the Toronto Daily Star on March 1, 1951 blared that Canadian soldiers (of the Princess Pats regiment) who were wounded overseas were being flown home.

Now with the worst combat toll for Canadian forces since the war in Korea, the new Conservative government is making a concerted attempt to dampen the ceremony that surrounds military deaths abroad.

No more will the Prime Minister fly to CFB Trenton to greet the bodies of troops killed overseas, as former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien did in October 2003, when the bodies of two soldiers killed in roadside blast in Kabul were returned home.

Instead, just O'Connor and Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff, are expected to be on hand tonight with family members when a military Airbus arrives in Trenton.

No more will the flag atop the Peace Tower in Ottawa be lowered to half-mast when a Canadian soldier is killed, a tradition that started under the Liberals.

Yesterday, as MPs returned to the House of Commons for the first day of business since the deadly attack, they held a minute of silence to mark the Armenian genocide, but not for the Canadian deaths.

"I think that the Prime Minister has made it very clear that he's very concerned about the situation, he's made his statement and that's all I can say about that," Justice Minister Vic Toews said when asked about the lack of tribute in the Commons.

Now the government finds itself in a flag flap as opposition MPs pounce on the decision not to lower the flag as a lack of respect for fallen soldiers.

"The opportunity to be respectful to those soldiers who have fallen is very important to Canadians. I don't know why the government would be backing off the tribute, the commemoration," NDP Leader Jack Layton said.

Two weeks ago, Lincoln Dinning, of Winghan, Ont., wrote to the Prime Minister asking the government to lower the flags on Parliament Hill when a Canadian soldier is killed in the line of duty. But in a cruel twist of fate, Dinning's son, Cpl. Matt Dinning, was among the four soldiers killed in Saturday's blast.

Interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham wondered yesterday whether there were other motives driving the Conservative push, a government that has already made clear it rues any distractions from its five priorities — even if that distraction is a far-off war.

"I have heard it suggested that the reason is that this way, people's attention will not be drawn to the unfortunate death of our soldiers in combat," Graham told reporters yesterday.

"I think there is a concern that it will be perceived by the troops themselves and by Canadians as a lack of respect for the sacrifices they are making," he said.

According to the Canadian Heritage Department, which sets the protocols for the lowering of flags, "the act of half-masting is a dramatic visual statement that speaks to the sense of loss that is shared by all their citizens."

But the government has veterans in its corner, who prefer to see fallen soldiers honoured on Remembrance Day, rather than "glorifying a few."

"When the troops were in Korea and they got killed, there was nothing for them. You'll find most Korean veterans will think the same way," said Terry Wickens, Ontario regional president for the Korea Veterans Association of Canada.

He said the big difference with Afghanistan is the television coverage — and the instant dissemination of bad news when it happens.

"That's what's making it seem worse, I think," said Wickens, who served as a signaller in Korea for 15 months.

He thinks the wall-to-wall coverage of deaths and injuries in Afghanistan can hurt public support. "If there wasn't so much media coverage, I don't think you'd have all this hoopla about bringing the troops home," Wickens said.

"People join the forces, they expect to go into action at some time in their career and this is unfortunately what happens," he said in an interview.

There are pros and cons when the conflict and its cost hit the airwaves and the front pages, admits retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie.

He lauds media coverage of the work of the soldiers in Afghanistan. But he says that many Canadians are still in the dark about the purpose of the mission and, as a result, he worries the dramatic publicity surrounding combat deaths will undermine support.

"The fence-sitters could really drive the polls in the direction of let's get the hell out of there because they don't really understand why the sacrifices are being made," MacKenzie said in an interview.

With files from Tonda MacCharles