Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 22/02) - Most of his demands met, Glenn Hall called off his hunger strike Wednesday night.

"The majority of what I asked for, they went for it. So that's a big relief," he said from his Richmond, B.C., home.

Hall stopped eating last Friday to leverage the Workers' Compensation Board into meeting several of his demands. Last July, he saw his monthly benefits cut from more than $1,700 to $350 when a WCB doctor ruled he was only 18 per cent disabled.

Hall ruptured a disc in his back while delivering cases of pop in Yellowknife in 1997.

"My pension is back, my benefits are back -- that's a big relief for my family. And the rest of the stuff that I've been asking for months or almost a year, now they're willing to do it," he said.

Hall's first meal, consumed late Wednesday evening, was a pizza pocket.

"It didn't stay down long, so I'm just taking small little portions," he said. "My stomach's shrunk amazingly."

The hunger striker still has sharp words for the WCB.

"It needs complete haul over. It's a total mess," he said. A number of recommendations to change the organization are currently under review by Finance Minister Joe Handley.