CUBA CLAIMS ‘EXAGGERATED,’ OTTAWA SAYS
Feds ask judge to reject suit for envoys’ mystery illnesses
OTTAWA • Federal government lawyers are arguing that five diplomats and their families have made “excessive” and “exaggerated” claims in a $28-million lawsuit filed over mysterious injuries suffered while stationed in Cuba.
They’re asking a judge to toss the lawsuit, which alleges negligence and a coverup over the so-called “Havana Syndrome” — strange injuries the lawsuit speculates may have been caused by a “sonic or microwave weapon” initially aimed at American officials.
The statement of defence filed in Federal Court denies all allegations of wrongdoing, negligence, and breach of contractual or constitutional duties. It rebuts claims about the government’s response made by diplomats in the lawsuit and in the media, and reveals other details about its actions in the spring of 2017, including that it secured a commitment from “high-level officials in the Government of Cuba to conduct a joint investigation” into the matter.
The document says an independent environmental assessment of Canadian staff quarters in Havana “revealed no evidence of unusual environmental phenomena” and “found no evidence of foul play at the staff quarters.”
Government lawyers acknowledge that some of the 14 plaintiffs in the lawsuit exhibited concussion-like symptoms, but say the cause is unknown and that “in any case, the Defendant pleads that there is no definitive medical diagnosis of any medical condition, illness or disease called Havana Syndrome, notwithstanding the use of this term by the Plaintiffs.”
They say the government “has no knowledge or insufficient knowledge” to conclusively determine how many plaintiffs were affected by the symptoms referred to as Havana Syndrome.
The diplomats, who are kept anonymous in the filings, allege that between January 2017 and November 2018 they and their families stationed in Cuba suffered such symptoms as cognitive brain injuries, migraines, nosebleeds, nausea, sleep disturbances, emotional disturbances, vision problems and loss of consciousness.
One of the diplomats first learned in April 2017 from an American neighbour in Havana that American officials were reporting strange injuries, possibly perpetrated by a foreign power, and that Americans were evacuating Cuba because of it.
THE DEFENDANT PLEADS THAT THERE IS NO DEFINITIVE MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS OF ... HAVANA SYNDROME.
The diplomat alerted embassy management, kicking off the Canadian investigation.
Although there was wide speculation after the injuries became public that they were caused by some kind of sonic weapon, various theories have since been put forward by experts suggesting they could have been caused by pesticides, mass hysteria or stress similar to combat situations.
“Canada badly mishandled the growing crisis,” the diplomats’ lawsuit claims. It alleges the government kept its staff in harm’s way while the Americans were evacuating. It claims the government “actively misheld information regarding Havana Syndrome from diplomatic staff,” gave them “false assurances of safety,” and told them not to talk about it with anyone. It says the government “actively interfered” with their attempts to get medical treatment.
In response, government lawyers say the “damages pleaded and alleged in the Statement of Claim are excessive, exaggerated and/or too remote to be compensable,” and say the diplomats failed to take “reasonable measures” to mitigate them.
In rejecting the allegation of negligence, the government says that if “the Plaintiffs sustained the damages alleged, which is not admitted but denied, the Defendant is not responsible at law for those damages as the Plaintiffs had the possibility of terminating their posting and leaving Havana at their earliest opportunity.” It also argues that many of the legal liability claims made in the lawsuit are not allowed against the Crown by statute.
The government denies it unreasonably suppressed information or downplayed the situation. It also denies the diplomats’ claim that it instructed the University of Pennsylvania Centre for Brain Injury and Repair to stop testing on them. The government says it arranged for treatment in Canada due to concerns over privacy of personal medical information, access to French-language medical services and the provision for long-term treatment.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada said the “health, safety and security of our diplomats serving abroad and their families is a top priority for the Canadian government.”
“We continue to investigate the potential causes of the unusual health symptoms; a conclusive cause has not been identified,” said the statement. “The Government of Canada has sent RCMP investigators and technical experts, Health Canada occupational health professionals, and representatives from Global Affairs Canada to address health concerns and to further the investigation.”
The statement of defence provides a timeline of the government’s response after being tipped off on April 18, 2017, about the American situation. Canadian embassy officials met with American counterparts on April 26. “The United States had limited information and could not explain the cause of these symptoms,” the document says.
The situation escalated on June 4, when a Canadian diplomat and his family who’d experienced an incident three days earlier were taken to the University of Miami for medical evaluation. The diplomat told the Ottawa Citizen he’d been awoken by a “grinding, screeching metallic noise” at 3 a.m. and felt nauseous; shortly after, his son walked into the bedroom covered in blood from a severe nosebleed.
The document says medical, security and environmental investigations and assessments began in June 2017 and “continue to the present time.”