The National Post reports in its Monday edition that mortgage insurance has not come to the rescue of widows of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan as was expected. A Canadian Press dispatch to the Post relates the stories of a number of war widows having difficulties making claims on their mortgage insurance. In one instance, Manulife refused to pay out a policy because it claimed the soldier died in combat. It said combat deaths were excluded from coverage. However, soon after a reporter's query, Manulife decided to honour the policy in full. Manulife says it is not changing its overall policy, but could review special cases to determine if the exclusion should be waived. In another widow's story, Bank of Montreal was slow to pay for unexplained reasons. Some banks appear to have modified their policies for dead soldiers. Royal Bank of Canada normally has a war exclusion clause, but waived it late last year for any member of the Forces killed in combat in Afghanistan "as a gesture of support for our military." Still, there remains a confusing patchwork approach to the insurance schemes, with some banks maintaining the exclusions and others placing no restrictions on their policies.

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