After almost 40 years, the Glace Bay, N.S. widow of a veteran has been promised she will receive a fair settlement for the decades she was denied her husband's pension over a clerical mistake.

Annie May MacKenzie, 83, appeared on CTV's Canada AM on Thursday with her daughter Cheryl Deveaux, one day after they met with Veteran's Affairs Minister Greg Thompson on Parliament Hill.

"Basically, what came out of the meeting is that a fair and compassionate settlement will be coming to my mother, within one week's time," Deveaux said from Ottawa.

"And so we're very delighted over that, and it's been a long road, and so we're happy that this is coming to an end."

MacKenzie's husband, Cpl. Melvin MacKenzie, was an air force mechanic stationed in Newfoundland during the Second World War. He was receiving a veteran's disability pension when he died in 1968.

However, his widow never saw any money until 2003 due to a clerical error. The pension was reinstated at that time, but the family has been fighting to have it paid retroactively for the years it was denied.

MacKenzie said earlier in the week that she thought the department was waiting for her to die so the problem would go away. But on Thursday, MacKenzie said she is no longer bitter or angry.

The family has not been told how much money they can expect, but MacKenzie said she feels like they have achieved a victory.

"I don't think that it's sunk in yet what has happened," she said.

"But I'm delighted. I was delighted with the meeting with the minister last night, and he assured me that within a matter of days, that I would be hearing from his lawyer or our lawyer. So I'm very happy."

Deveaux said a settlement is simply "the right thing to do."

"Regardless of the amount of the settlement that my mother will receive next week, it will never recoup the losses that she has endured over her lifetime of 40 years," Deveaux said, noting she made that point clear to Thompson.

"He understands that as well. It's not an issue of checks and balances, it's just the right thing for them to do. But it's not going to change the fact of what has happened over the past -- almost 40 years -- for her."

Deveaux said the family hopes to set a precedent for other widows of veterans who have also been denied their husband's pensions.