Claude Lalancette (in blue) with Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjan, Minister Kent Hehr, Minister of Health Jane Philpott, and MP Marwan Tabbar. Photo courtesy Facebook, Mefloquine Trooper.
An expert on a drug that many veterans believe impacted a First Nations soldier during the Somalia Affair has been asked to speak to the House of Commons Standing committee on Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Remington Nevin has testified at Britain’s inquest into military misuse of the drug, and now he confirms he’ll be speaking to Canada’s committee.
The drug’s adverse effects include psychosis and aggressive behavior, and many believe it impacted Corporal Clayton Matchee in the early 1990s during the Somalia Affair.
Matchee, a Flying Dust First Nations man, was involved in the beating death of a Somali captive and afterwards attempted suicide. He now is in the care of his family.
Advocate and veteran Claude Lalancette has put pressure on the federal government to address concerns about Mefloquine in the Veterans Affairs committee. Lalancette is a former member of the Airborne Regiment, which was disbanded after a number of violent events during its Somalia deployment.
His message got across to Yorkton-Melville MP Cathy Wagentall and Quebec MP Alupa Clarke.
Last week, the two politicians brought up Lalancette’s case in the House of Commons as they questioned Karen McCrimmon, Parliamentary Secretary for Veterans Affairs and National Defence. Lalancette held hunger strikes outside parliament, the most recent coming last week.
“After his first hunger strike the Liberals promised him a committee of veterans, civilians and experts then only days later they reneged on that promise. In his own words he feels misused, misled, stating ‘they only used me for a photo op,” Wagentall said in the House.
In response, McCrimmon did not provide specifics about that upcoming meeting.
“Those ministers met with Mr. Lalancette in good faith and they offered him the opportunity to witness, to testify before committee. That’s what he has been offered and he agreed to that. Now there are issues that require extra work and extra diligence,” she said, needing to pause while she was heckled.
As of this week, the wheels are in motion for that to come to fruition.
Lalancette says his committee time will amount to four hours on Oct. 25 but that hasn’t been officially confirmed at this time.
In his communication with Veteran’s Affairs, he has brought up the issues the Matchee family has had ever since the 1990s.
Internal military reports from the 90’s point to Mefloquine as a factor in Matchee’s attempted suicide, according to a 1999 news release from MP John Cummins.