by Brian Forbes, Chair of the National Council of Veteran Associations and Chair of
The War Amps Executive Committee
by Brian Forbes, Chair of the National Council of Veteran Associations and Chair of
The War Amps Executive Committee
HAVING JUST COMMEMORATED Remembrance Day, there continue to be significant concerns with respect to veterans’ legislation, regulation and policy, necessitating further action by the Government and Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) to rectify the ongoing inequity and injustice impacting disabled veterans and their families.
Based on recent exchanges with the Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, and senior officials of the department, VAC unfortunately tends to underline the incremental progress that has been achieved on a number of issues, including the intolerable backlog/wait time crisis and the insidious issue of military sexual trauma within the Canadian Armed Forces.
However, it must be recognized that, although the Minister and the department continue to deliver statements of good intention, it is readily apparent that the machinery of government does indeed move extremely slowly in actually implementing needed overall legislative reform.
We are, of course, encouraged by the recent enactment of an immediate treatment benefit policy for veterans suffering mental health challenges which has been a major breakthrough in accord with the longstanding position of the National Council of Veteran Associations (NCVA) in this context. We will continue to pursue an extension of this treatment benefit policy so as to ensure that it applies to all disabled veterans in urgent need of treatment or health care.
Suffice to say that much more is required to fully respond to our ongoing NCVA legislative agenda, including the following major topics of concern:
1) A recognition that systemic change is essential to tackle the backlog/wait time crisis, including the adoption of fast-tracking protocols and a form of automatic entitlement. As stipulated in the recent Auditor General’s report and the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report of 2020, it is self-evident that increased temporary staffing and augmented digitization alone are not sufficient to resolve this ongoing problem. It is to be noted that the recent position paper we produced entitled “Auditor General slams VAC for totally unacceptable backlog and wait times for veterans’ disability claims” (which has been published in Esprit de Corps in its individual chapters over the last five months) contains the essential elements of our proposals to alleviate the backlog/wait time debacle sooner than later.
2) Our fundamental proposition that veterans’ legislation should equate to a “one veteran – one standard” approach. We have strongly recommended that the best parts of the Pension Act and the New Veterans Charter should be utilized to produce a comprehensive pension and wellness model for all disabled veterans, regardless of where or when they were injured.
3) The marriage after 60 dispute and our demand that the so- called “gold digger’s clause” be eliminated from the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act after many years of advocacy. It is noteworthy that the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs (ACVA) recently carried out an extensive study of this longstanding grievance and we are expecting a strong set of recommendations from the committee as Parliament reconvenes this fall.
4) With reference to the extremely concerning issue of military sexual trauma within the CAF, we will continue to press the government to fully implement without further delay the salient recommendations contained in the report of Madame Justice Arbour. We do welcome the recent appointment of an independent external monitor mandated to oversee the implementation of the Arbour recommendations. We remain concerned, however, by the lack of a timeline to adopt the balance of the 48 recommendations contained in the report.
5) Replacing the present Caregiver Recognition Benefit by revitalizing the traditional concept of Attendance Allowance as to eligibility criteria from the Pension Act, together with the Department of National Defence Attendant Care Benefit as to the minimum amount payable to informal caregivers to better recognize and more generously compensate them for their significant effort and economic loss in supporting injured veterans. We will also seek the creation of a new family benefit for all veterans in receipt of Pain and Suffering compensation to parallel the Pension Act provisions in relation to spousal and child allowances, so as to recognize the impact of the veteran’s disability on his or her family.
6) A reform of the Last Post Fund legislation necessitating a recognition of the fact that families of seriously disabled veterans should receive this funeral and burial grant as a matter of right.
7) The establishment of a Career Impact Allowance for life based on the future loss of income strategy employed for many years by the Canadian courts in lieu of the current VAC Income Replacement Benefit or the CAF SISIP income policy. The fundamental principle that should be followed by the department lies in the monetary evaluation as to what the disabled veteran would have earned in their military career if they had not been injured.
8) A full revamp of the Diminished Earnings Capacity post-65 policy so as to establish a formula which does not reduce the amount of the income replacement from 90 percent to 70 percent (of 90 percent) at age 65, with accompanying setoffs. It is quite clear that the financial requirements of a seriously disabled veteran in receipt of Diminished Earnings Capacity do not decrease at the age of 65 and the parallel to private pension plans, as often posited by VAC, is not an acceptable justification for this reduction.
We continue to work with the new Deputy Minister, Paul Ledwell, and the recently restructured hierarchy of VAC in an ongoing crusade to produce greater reform for Canadian veterans and their families.
Based on recent meetings with senior officials of VAC, we are somewhat encouraged that the department is indicating an open door to further dialogue which at least allows a further evaluation of these priority legislative concerns. Unfortunately, it is too often the case that the bureaucracy tends to default to a defensive position of upholding the status quo. Notwithstanding this fact, we remain committed to achieving further advances on our overall legislative agenda beyond the incremental progress that has been accomplished to date.
VAC, however, must recognize that time is of the essence for Canadian veterans and their families who continue to wait for this fundamental legislative reform so as to allow them to better cope with their service-related disabilities and injuries.
Our NCVA Legislative Program 2022-23, recently adopted by our 68 member-organizations, sets out the essential components of our agenda as we address Parliament, Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence: www.ncva-cnaac.ca/ en/legislative-program/