Soldier's family to be compensated
GLORIA GALLOWAY
From Friday's Globe and Mail
June 1, 2007 at 5:05 AM EDT
OTTAWA — It is difficult to talk about private grief in the glare of television cameras, and it was a long eight-hour drive home from Ottawa for Lincoln and Laurie Dinning. But good news was waiting for them on the other end.
The Department of National Defence has agreed to reimburse the Dinnings for the expenses related to the death of their son, a military policeman who was killed by a roadside bomb while serving last year in Afghanistan.
"It's a long way to drive to make a point, but it obviously worked because here we are being reimbursed," Mr. Dinnings said in a telephone interview from his home in the Ontario community of Wingham yesterday. "And, if it's true, then hopefully no other family will have to stand up there and do that again."
Although the couple spent more than $25,000 to bury Matthew and deal with the psychological fallout of his loss, the government gave them just $6,400 - the amount allowed under decade-old guidelines.
They did not ask to be recompensed for every dollar. But they went to Parliament this week to argue that some of the additional expenses should reasonably be covered. And they wanted to put a face to anonymous reports - denied by Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor - that families of dead soldiers were bearing the costs of the funerals.
The Dinnings' story created an uproar in the House of Commons, and the couple, who say they are intensely private people, found themselves at the centre of a news media storm. There were 20 messages waiting for them when they arrived home yesterday, most from reporters.
But one was from the Defence Department.
"At 3 p.m. today, I spoke to Rear Admiral Tyrone Pile," Mr. Dinning said. "He is the chief of military personnel in Ottawa and he was phoning to confirm my address because they were sending me a cheque for what we had asked for."
The family will get about $4,700. That includes $525 for a hotel room in Ottawa where they stayed when their son's name was added to the honour roll, $1,200 for grief counselling for Mrs. Dinning up to Dec. 1 of last year, and $2,963 in arena charges.
Some news reports yesterday, including The Globe and Mail, mistakenly reported that the Dinnings had to rent the arena. The facility was actually offered, rent free, by the local community to accommodate the 2,500 people who wanted to attend Matthew's memorial. But setting up the venue, including chairs, drapes and overtime wages, cost nearly $3,000.
Rear Adm. Pile also offered to pay for the additional grief counselling that Mrs. Dinning has had since December - and for the counselling she will need in the future, Mr. Dinning said.
The family has yet to hear an explanation from Prime Minister Stephen Harper as to why their unmarried son did not qualify for the $250,000 death benefit that is given to married soldiers who die in action.
In a letter Mr. Dinning wrote last August to his family liaison officer he said, "P.S. Brendan is leaving tomorrow to begin his career in the Canadian Forces and my wish is that he loves doing his job as much as Matthew loved doing his."
Brendan Dinning is Matthew's younger brother. He is also going to be a military police officer and is serving at an Ontario base.