|
Summary of Spring and Summer
Publisher VVi
It has been a while since the last VVi
Periodical made its rounds.
Within VVi itself, different and more effective
dissemination and database tools have been made available, increasing
the power of the site. The site itself has gone through various changes making
navigation for the user easier. The site colours have also
changed. Further, a volunteer based Veteran Support Programs have been
initiated.
However, the major initiatives have involved
veteran issues, including the Clawback at Age 65, SISIP Clawback, as well as
the on-going problems faced by veterans in general. However, of great concern
has been the New Veteran Charter (NVC), which has time goes on exposes more
and more of this charter's deficiencies.
Annuity
Benefit Reduction at age 65 (Clawback at Age 65)
On
May 5, 2010, for the fourth time, Conservatives MP’s were directed to vote
against Bill C-201. The Bill count was successful and the final vote recorded
was 149 yeas and 134 nays. Because The Prime Minister of Canada refuses to
request a Royal recommendation the speaker of the House of Commons then
declared that Bill C-201 was carried, but it was also discharged from the
agenda. It therefore died on the order table. Details of how your M.P. voted
may be found at this website: http://openparliament.ca/bills/votes/923/
or at www.parl.gc.ca.
Under
the initiative and guidance of Peter Stoffer, M.P., Bill C-201 aims were
to eliminate the unfair benefit reduction (clawback) of retired and disabled
CF and RCMP service pensions. The bill, introduced, as mentioned above, to
four sessions of Parliament, if carried through, would have helped alleviate
the financial pressure on many retired and disabled CF and RCMP veterans and
their families. Mr Stoffer plans to re-introduce the bill in the next
Parliament and will continue to press the government to ending the unfair
reductions.
Issue
links:
Military/RCMP
Veterans Against Reduction at Age 65 - Campaign Paper
C-201,
An Act to amend the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act
and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act
SISIP Clawback
On
March 15, 2007, a proposed class action suit was filed, in the Federal Court
of Canada, on behalf of 6500 disabled former members of the Canadian Forces.
The suit relates to profoundly unfair deductions to CF's long-term disability
insurance income replacement. The class action claim was filed on behalf
of Dennis Manuge, as the Representative Plaintiff.
On May
20, 2008, Justice Robert Barns and the Federal Court of Canada certified the
suit as a Class Action, defining the Class as:
All
former members of the Canadian Forces whose long term disability insurance
under SISIP policy number 901102 were reduced by the amount of their
Veterans Affairs Canada disability benefits received pursuant to the Pension
Act from April 17, 1985 to date.
On
February 3, 2009, Justice, “Gilles Létourneau”, of the Federal Court of
Appeals set aside this certification, based on an appeal by the crown.
An
appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) was launched by Representative
Plaintiff 21 Jan, 2010. As expected, we continue to wait for the decision, of
the SCC, to determine our way through the federal court legal system. The
pending decision does not decide the outcome; merely how we are
"allowed" to proceed, or navigate through the federal court to seek
justice. It is in our best interests to proceed by way of action, as opposed
to a judicial review. We expect the decision from SCC around the fall season.
We are represented by, Mr. Peter Driscoll, from McInnes Cooper (
Halifax
) and Mr. Ward Branch, Branch MacMaster (Vancouver).
The
Veteran Ombudsman, a Parliamentary committee and the House of Commons have all
denounced the clawback as unfair and discriminatory.
What
you can do to assist? Share your experiences with your MP, Minister of VAC,
DND Minister, VAC Ombudsman, and the media. Peter Stoffer, NDP, and Rob
Oliphant, Liberal are the VAC critics for their respective parties.
Issue
links:
Criteria
for Participating Claimants
Manuge
Vs Her Majesty The Queen
SCC
Case Information Docket# 33103 Dennis Manuge v. Her Majesty the Queen:
Federal
Court of Canada Docket: T-463-07
Federal
Court of Appeal Docket: A-262-08:
Federal
Court Appeal
NVC
- Lump Sum Payments
The NVC involves those veterans and service
members that submitted claims after 01 April 2006, especially focusing on the
veteran of the future, those serving today in uniform and in harm's way.
Although all federal political parties agreed that the NVC was a living
document, subject to amendments, the NVC has proved a non-evolving charter.
Although recommendations have been made to update many of its clauses, by
various experts and others, such as the House of Commons Veteran Committee,
nothing, nada has happened to improve this faulty legislation. An independent
survey was conducted by survey researcher, Shelley Langstaff, with initial
results demonstrating that few, if any veterans are satisfied with the current
status quo.
One of the NVC's issues is the lump sum payment
to our wounded with little or nothing to follow afterwards. This has been
addressed by certain MPs of the House and Senators, but again to no avail. In
response a number of staff and subscribers are formatting an electronic
petition. This petition is planned to be in-place Aug-Sep time period.
Subscribers will informed of the petition details through these means, and via
the VVi web site.
A more detailed report on the NVC will be
forthcoming in follow-on Periodicals.
Issue
links:
House
of Commons Standing Committee of Veteran Affairs - NVC Report
RCL
Presentation on NVC
Sean
Bruyea's 'A New Direction for Veterans and Veterans Affairs Canada':
VAC
Down Sizing
The
Government of Canada is considering downsizing VAC as a cost-saving measure,
even though there are serious misgivings of government's and senior civil
servants to currently provide the required financial support and benefits to
disabled soldiers and veterans
Although
VAC subscribes that the older veterans of WWII and Korea are passing, there
still remain 155,000 of these veterans, plus the widows of those that have
already passed. Further, the ranks of CF veterans, disabled or not, and their
growing number will still have to be administered, and with resources that
have been assessed to be currently significantly stretched. As the National
Council of Veteran Associations (NCVA) has stated," Canada's
obligation to our Armed Forces, of whom we have asked so much, requires that
VAC be retained as a substantive Government presence for the foreseeable
future. The idea that it would be viewed as a target in the overall evaluation
of the Government deficit is totally unacceptable and a fundamental breach of
our legal and moral commitment to these valiant and courageous members of the
Canadian Forces."
It
appears that VAC does not understand that a veteran is a veteran, period. VAC
contends that a reduction of its already stretched resources is warranted as
the veterans of WWII and Korea pass. The questions remain what about the multitude
of veterans from the past six decades that served after Korea? How will VAC
administer to the veterans of the future, those who are now serving and those
who will serve? Again, VAC appears to have the tendency to categorize
different groups of veterans. What this bureaucracy fails to acknowledge is
that there is only one category of veterans, service members having
voluntarily served in this country's military forces in time of war and peace.
Issue
links:
National
Council of Veteran Associations (NCVA) Statement
Gulf War Illness
Health
concerns and compensation of service members returning from the '91 Persian
Gulf War and Gulf War Illness (GWI) continues to this day.
In
the years following the Gulf War, independent objective psychometric
assessments of personality functioning and neuropsychological performance were
obtained on all of the CF patients who expressed concerns about their
cognitive and emotional functioning.
Psychological
assessment studies found that 79% of the patient sample were sufficiently
concerned about memory loss to seek a formal medical evaluation. This
study was conducted to investigate both memory performance and the
psychological adjustment of Gulf War veterans on their repatriation to
Canada
Further
studies in the US, may have linked
GWI to exposure to pesticides, nerve agents and other chemicals, which may
explain the chronic, multi-symptom health problems experienced by up to
one-third of Gulf War US veterans. A number of these studies provide
compelling evidence that the fatigue, muscle or joint pain, memory and sleep
problems, rashes and breathing troubles experienced by these veterans are due
to chemicals known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and organophosphates,
which includes nerve gas.
Issue
links:
Acetylcholinesterase
inhibitors and Gulf War illnesses
Research
Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses - Binns' Report dated Nov
2008
Agent
Orange
The
Agent Orange/Purple compensation program, consisting exclusively of ex-gratia
payments in the amount of $20,000 as compensation for victims of the Agent
Orange spraying. The compensation program has been widely criticized for its
small amount and its limited eligibility. Currently, only those who
were still alive on February 6, 2006, are eligible to receive compensation.
Widows of those who died prior to this date justifiably feel left out.
Additionally, the list of eligible illnesses is much more restrictive in
Canada than in other countries. The Agent Orange Association of Canada Inc. has
called for the government to conduct a full inquiry into the spraying program.
MP
Robert Oliphant has stated that his party, “... is committed to bringing
this issue before the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs [House of
Commons] and will call for increased compensation and a full public
inquiry.” He concluded, “After the committee has conducted our study
we will then be able to make a series of comprehensive recommendations to the
government on the appropriate way forward.”
Issue
links:
Robert
Oliphant, M.P - Calls for Full Public Inquiry into Agent Orange
Senator
Percy E. Downe - Justice
Minister Rob Nicholson: Tough on Veterans
|
