Mother of Canada suicide soldier gets 1-cent cheque

Canada's Defence Minister apologized Tuesday after the mother of a soldier who committed suicide in 2011 received a one cent cheque for "release pay" -- three years after her son's death. Minister Rob Nicholson blamed an "insensitive bureaucratic screw up" for the "absolutely ridiculous" decision to send the payment to the family of 22-year-old Justin Stark. "I will take steps immediately to ensure that something like this should never happen again," Nicholson said. Stark took his own life in 2011 after returning to Canada following a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan. "After all this mother has gone through, this is inexcusable," opposition lawmaker Wayne Marston said in the Canadian parliament. The controversy comes after recent criticism of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government over the assistance and support offered to Canadian soldiers and their families.