The NDP member of Parliament for Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke is calling on the Minister of Defence to take action for hundreds of former members of the Canadian Forces who were dishonourably discharged for being gay, lesbian, bisexual; or transgender. Randall Garrison is also the critic for Defence and LGTBQ issues.
Randall Garrison is calling for records to be revised, saying it's time to correct the injustice and demonstrate commitment to diversity:
" I give credit to the Canadian military. We changed our policy much earlier than most militaries to end discrimiation against the LGBTQ community in 1992. That was early. But we didn't fix what had gone on before."
Garrison says the stigma of a dishonourable discharge haunts those affected for life, and excludes them from participating in military eventsd and social life, and can prevent them from getting work.
He says there's no excuse to further delay righting this wrong, adding it can be fixed very quickly and simply with an application to the Military Ombudsman to revisit someone's records.
Garrison was appearing on CFAX 1070 with Pamela McCall.