Afghan-Canadian combat advisers launch discrimination suit against Department of National Defence

Former military language and cultural advisers — who at times carried out some of the most difficult and dangerous assignments of Canada's war in Afghanistan — are now suing the federal government for discrimination over the alleged failure to properly train and take care of them following their service alongside combat troops, CBC News has learned.

A statement of claim was filed on May 30 in Ontario Superior Court on behalf of 30 of the men — Canadian citizens of Afghan origin — who were recruited by the Defence Department to help the army on the ground during the brutal Kandahar campaign.

The federal government was served notice of the $50 million discrimination suit last Thursday.

Known by the acronym LCAs, the advisers were tasked with helping commanders and troops overcome language and cultural barriers. But they also conducted dangerous intelligence gathering on the Taliban, warned of attacks and eavesdropped on insurgent communications.

They were civilians, not soldiers.

Many of them returned to Canada injured and broken, only to be denied care by the federal government because their contracts with the Defence Department ended after their time overseas and their health concerns, including post-traumatic stress disorder, emerged afterward.

"After years of dedicated service to their country, LCAs were abandoned in the community," said the court filing, which noted that many of them had secret clearance and could not discuss the operations in which they had been involved. 

The crux of the discrimination claim is that the advisers "were recruited based on their identities as Muslim Canadians of Afghan descent and were subjected to the same risks and hazards" as soldiers, yet, "Canada deprived LCAs of the same benefits and supports it provides to soldiers in recognition of these risks and hazards of war."

The former advisers also claim they were discriminated against by not being given adequate pre-deployment training to prepare for the hazards of combat.

CBC News has followed the plight of the men since 2019, and their case has also been championed by the Canadian Forces Ombudsman's office. 

The Defence Department, in response to media stories and watchdog pressure, sent the advisers' cases to the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), which is where most Defence Department cases involving civilian injury end up.

The lawsuit claims the Defence Department "actively frustrated and undermined" the cases of the advisers by the "withholding of critical information from the WSIB and its imposition of confidentiality obligations."

The actions, the court filing says, limited the ability of the LCAs to disclose information and that contributed to the rejection of most of their serious injury claims. 

The federal government has not responded to the claims in the court challenge.