My Dad Colin Lewery passed away January 22 2020.                                                  Please take a moment to read my Dad's story. Thank you.

He served his country in the Military and when he found Jesus he felt called to become a pastor and help people so he went to the Salvation Army Training College in 1965.
My parents were commissioned in 1967. In 1989 my mother left the marriage.
The Army terminated my Dad for no reason when my mother left.
In a matter of weeks, he lost his wife and his career that he had for 25 years.
The Salvation Army refused to give my Dad a housing allowance and his full pension.
But!!! They gave a housing allowance and full pension to a convicted pedophile who was a Salvation Army officer in Newfoundland and ended up in Dorchester Prison!
They moved our family all over Canada. I went to kindergarten in Drumheller Alberta, grades 1 & 2 in Hanover Ontario. Grade 3 in Windsor Nova Scotia. Grades 4-8 in Picton Ontario. Grade 9 St. Thomas Ontario. Grade 10 Esquimalt BC...
Then the Army was going to move us AGAIN so my parents left so I could finish high school. They went back into the Army in 1983 and moved to Prince Albert Saskatchewan then to Moncton NB where the pressure of the constant moving and the stress it put on our family finally came to a head and the marriage fell apart.      My mother left. 2 of my siblings were writing final exams. One was trying to graduate from high school.
My Dad completely fell apart losing his wife and his career. He had no where to go when the Army terminated him and had no money and a houseful of kids! What did the Army do for our family?
NOTHING!!! They threw my Dad and his kids literally onto the streets. They knew he had 4 kids at home and was living in a fully furnished Salvation Army parsonage but they terminated him and put them out.
So my family literally didn’t have a knife, fork, bed or dresser and the Salvation Army knew this. This is why when an Officer retires they get a housing allowance because they don’t even own the bed they sleep on in their career with the Army.
We owned nothing but our clothes and personal items.
My Dad was so despondent over losing his wife and career and having no home and no money that over the next couple of years he tried many many times to kill himself.
My sister at the age of 21 had to go on nitro glycerin pills for her heart and we all were threatened with job loss if we left one more time because someone had to go help our Dad. He was mentally, emotionally and financially broken after losing his wife and then being immediately terminated from his 25 year career for NO REASON!
My Dad took the Army to court for wrongful dismissal and their response was “he worked for God, he was not an employee.” Yet he had an employee number!!!
For the next 30 years my Dad wrote the Army and pleaded with them for a housing allowance, which he earned and the pension that he earned and the reason for his termination.
They never gave my Dad a reason for termination and they never paid him what he earned.
It hurt him deeply and he could never get over it or understand how he could be treated so horribly by the church he served who’s slogan is “Heart to God, hand to Man”.
We, his children had to watch helplessly as my Dad cried and suffered over this.
For years I told my Dad to make it public but he kept saying he would write one more letter and give the Salvation Army a chance to right this wrong.
I told my Dad they were just going to wait until he died for his letters to stop.
That’s what they’ve done. My Dad died broken.
Then there are the ripple effects of the constant moving and how my family was treated...I walked away from God for a long time as did the rest of my siblings. It is hard to have faith when you are abandoned and uncared for by the “most caring church on the planet”.... seemingly....aren’t they? They help everyone else...
I have suffered my whole life as have my siblings from depression, self esteem issues, anxiety. And a feeling of never being settled from all the moving!
Studies have shown the ill effects of constantly having to move.
The damage it does.
What was the purpose in it?! NONE.
It became almost impossible to make friends or commit in a relationship because of the uncertainty we always had as kids. Do you have any idea how hard it is to ALWAYS be the new kid? Riddled with fear and wondering if you're moving again the next summer?!
We were denied the RIGHT to live near our extended families and as a result I don't KNOW ANY of them!!! I felt sick when my grandparents died because I never knew them!
We always lived sooooo far away from them, often on the other side of the country... and the Salvation Army pays a small living allowance to its pastors so we could not afford to visit.
No family Christmas with cousins and Aunts, Uncles and grandparents.
No family support at all! My siblings and I ended up scattered all over the country.
Our children don't know each other. We barely know each other.
The Salvation Army is disgusting. They should be ashamed of how they treat those families who literally sacrifice their security for them and never own anything.
Because my Dad took the Army to court is why both spouses now get paid and get a pension.
They used to only pay the man!
Think about how much money they rake in every year and they only paid one salary to 2 people for a very long time!!!
They are a business and own property and completely furnished homes all over the world.
And they only paid one “allowance” to my family....
Do you know how much work my mother did?
She ran the Home League, the Sunday schools, played piano. Cleaned the church.

FOR FREE

Here is one of the letters my Dad wrote, as well as a response from the Salvation Army. 

Can you believe they gave him $200 a month!?! He had a heart condition and cancer and could barely afford to live. Shame on the Salvation Army!!!

To see original documents including my Dad's pension statement visit: Facebook.com/justiceforcolinlewery

May 19, 2018

Mr. Paul Goodyear                                                                                                   The Salvation Army Territorial Finance Secretary                                                         The Salvation Army                                                                                                 Territorial Headquarters                                                                                                 2 Overlea Boulavard                                                                                                 Toronto, Ontario M4H 1P4

Dear Mr. Goodyear:

I am writing this letter to you as I am at a loss to know whom else at THQ might help me. I do hope that you will take the time to read this correspondence and respond to me.

In 1967 I was commissioned as a Salvation Army Officer. In 1989, my wife left the marital home and we eventually divorced. At that time my Officer ship was terminated and I was dismissed from the Salvation Army.

At approximately the same time Fred Halliwell, another Officer, was arrested for paedophilia,was tried and convicted and sentenced to penitentiary time at Dorchester, New Brunswick.

His Officer ship was terminated and he was dismissed from the Army.                        That’s where the similarities end.

Fred Halliwell, in spite of a conviction for paedophilia, was granted full housing and furnishing Grants. (I believe that was the right thing to do)

On the other hand I was simply told that those grants would not be made available to me. No explanation has ever been given to me.

Someone at THQ arbitrarily made the decision to deny me, what I still believe is rightfully mine. My guess is that decision was made by John Waldron. He was the Commissioner at the time and would be the only person able to wield such authority.

This has left a wound in my Soul that never heals. I have written copiously and numerous times over the past twenty – nine years and never received an honest, straight forward answer to my questions. I firmly believe that it is never too late to correct a wrong, never too late to say sorry and do the right thing.

From my perspective this is about the integrity, honesty and fair play of the Salvation Army.

I am asking you to grant those allowances to me now which should have been made available to me twenty-nine years ago. I gave one third of my life to the work of The Salvation Army. I am happy that I did so.

I was not a pedophile, I simply had a marriage failure.

Now the Salvation Army finds compassion to send thousands of boys and girls to summer camps, cares for the prostitutes and the indigent on the streets of our country. Provides thousands of beds and meals daily to the needy. I am curious to know why, I, after giving a third of my life to the organization, am left bereft of anything that would qualify as compassion?

One last note: I am in possession of a document from THQ, Relative to my pension. The document clearly states that my pension would be $200.00 payable bi- weekly.  That has never happened and no one has ever explained why.

I am persuaded that this is about the truth, honestest, integrity and moral rectitude of The Salvation Army. Please do the honourable thing a grant to me those allowances.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Colin Lewery

The Salvation Army
Canada & Bermuda
Territorial Headquarters
Office of the Financial Secretary
2 Overlea Boulevard
Toronto, Ontario M4H 1P4
Telephone: (416) 422-6145
Facsimile: (416) 422-6148
E-mail:
paul_goodyear@can.salvationarmy.org
Website: www.salvationarmy.ca
William & Catherine Booth André Cox Susan J. McMillan
Founders General Territorial Commander

July 19, 2018
Mr. Colin Lewery
#207-33433 Switzer Avenue
Abbotsford, BC V2S 1Y9
Email: leweryc@outlook.com
Dear Mr. Lewery
Thank you for your letter of May 31, 2018 and e-mail of June 11, 2018, with additional information that I had requested. I have conducted a thorough review of our files and am now in a position to respond to the questions you posed.
First, you questioned why your payroll remittance advice dated January 1, 2006 referred to a bi-weekly pension payment. In all of our other communications with you over the years, I think you will find that we have been consistent in referring to a monthly pension benefit, which is what the pension plan provides for, and we have
consistently paid your pension on this basis. It appears that by generating the payroll advice from our generalpayroll system, the “bi-weekly” label was accidently applied  in error. We certainly apologize for any misunderstanding this may have created.
Your present pension benefits consist of $246.61 per month for your basic pension payable from the pension plan,and supplementary benefits payable from The Salvation Army of $61.65 per month. The latter amount represents 25% of the basic pension amount, a gratuitous amount added as of September 2004. Both amounts have been subject to periodic increases to help mitigate the impact of inflation, and it is the Army’s intention to continue to provide such increases in the future to the extent that funds are available to do so.
Second, you questioned why you have not received any additional benefits as a “housing and furnishings allowance”. At the time of your termination, such grants were provided only to officers who retired from active service at normal retirement age or due to total and permanent disability. As a result, my review leads me to the
conclusion that you were not entitled to such allowances or grants at the date of your termination, based on policies then in effect.
You will recognize that privacy legislation prevents me from dislosing any amounts paid to other individuals, so I can neither confirm or deny whether other former officers received such grants or allowances. I can tell you, however, that such grants and allowances are subject to policy provisions and are not affected by the
circumstances surrounding the termination of officer service. In particular, I can assure you that your ineligibility related to the policies in effect, not because of an arbitrary decision on the part of any Army leader, including Commissioner John Waldron, who retired in 1982, well before the time of your termination in 1989.
I regret that I cannot provide a more favourable response. All that I can do is confirm that the benefits you are receiving have been calculated correctly, and that no additional benefits are payable.

Sincerely yours,
R. Paul Goodyear, MBA, FCPA, FCMA