Due Process Abandoned Once Again: VAC Tables C-45 Regulations over Christmas Holidays and During an Elecition
Dear Senator,
We are writing to you in your capacity as a Senator in an appeal for urgent assistance with respect to the creation of regulations and policies for C-45.
Currently, we find ourselves in the midst of an election campaign. It goes without saying that the Members of the House are otherwise occupied and the parliamentary committees have been temporarily suspended. It is to you therefore, that we must turn for assistance to help prevent the overly eager and potentially careless approval/implementation of regulations for C-45, the so-called “Veterans’ Charter”.
In May of 2005, C-45 became law without having undergone due process or meaningful stakeholder consultation. The Senate agreed to accelerate the normal process in passing C-45 with the understanding that Veterans Affairs Canada would not repeat the same secretive and exclusive process in creating the regulations and policies as they used for the actual legislation. Unfortunately, since May 2005, VAC has limited its consultations to the same six veterans’ organizations, none of which genuinely represent the true stakeholders in C-45: disabled veterans, CF members and the families of both.
It is true that VAC has created the Special Needs Advisory Group (SNAG) in September 2005 as a result of Senate oversight and intervention. Unfortunately, VAC has failed to advertise the existence of SNAG and as a result the ability of veterans or the families to contact them or give testimony is severely limited. Furthermore, SNAG members have been forced to sign a confidentiality agreement whereas the representatives of the six veteran organizations have not signed any such agreement. In a damning blow to the process, SNAG has been informed that the official date for them to provide feedback does not begin until April 2006, after all programs have been implemented!
SNAG is therefore all but excluded from not only providing feedback on the creation of the regulations but also the creation of policies for C-45.
VAC has also contracted a firm to conduct ‘focus groups’ on C-45. The unfortunate reality is that the personnel conducting the focus groups know even less about C-45 than the veterans being interviewed. This has prompted veterans to label the process of the “unfocus groups” as a “farce”.
The schedule VAC imposed upon the leadership of the six veteran organizations is so compressed that membership at large is not being consulted. All but two of the veterans groups are providing, reportedly, very little feedback if any on the regulations. Nevertheless, even if the entire membership of these veteran groups could be consulted, the combined groups represent less than 25% of the veteran population and an insignificant proportion of both the serving CF members and the families of veterans/members.
The reality is that the overwhelming majority of veterans and CF members and the families of both have not had any opportunity whatsoever to give meaningful feedback on either the legislation or regulations creation process. Given the speed with which Bill C-45 passed through Parliament, it is incumbent upon VAC to make the effort to reach out and embrace the majority of their silent and underrepresented stakeholders, before tabling regulations.
In a final insult to the process, the regulations were tabled through Canada Gazette on December 17, 2005. Stakeholders were given 30 days to respond. Not only was December 17th a Saturday, it is also the day which would normally begin the Parliamentary Christmas holidays. As such, even those close to the process learned of the tabling only on January 4, 2005, giving just two weeks to respond. The fact that this entire tabling occurred in the middle of an election campaign, starting after an election is called and ending before the election is held is far too great an act of bureaucratic chicanery to be ignored by the Senate and the Canadian public.
C-45 reflects the single greatest change in the approach in caring for disabled veterans and their families. Whether C-45 will actually improve or worsen the lot of these stakeholders is becoming a major focus of debate in both the CF and veteran community. What is undeniable is that C-45 policies will create yet another class of veterans and will accentuate the Canadian government’s discrimination and unequal treatment of disabled veterans, CF members and the families of both. In the midst of all of this, those that most need the assistance, the more severely disabled, will most surely fall through the cracks of this hastily prepared legislation and accompanying regulations. This is exactly what VAC guaranteed to the Senate would not occur. This is why steps must be taken to ensure that the process is more receptive to input from stakeholders.
One may claim that the instability of the government forced the rapid passage of C-45 in May 2005. However, that same excuse cannot be used in hastily creating the regulations and policies for C-45. Analysis in the first ever Ombudsman Report on VAC released in November 2005 clearly shows that C-45 represents a net loss in benefits from present programs (http://www.veteranvoice.info/). In this light, the rush to implement C-45 becomes nothing more than a supremely disingenuous cost cutting exercise at the expense of disabled veterans/CF members and their families.
VAC’s apparent motivation is to minimize the cost to the Canadian taxpayer while neglecting the quality of service to the veteran. Veterans deserve the best in quality service and benefits in recognition of their commitment to and sacrifice for Canada. Unfortunately, such quality service can only be guaranteed with consistent vigilance and monitoring from an outside body. Nothing less than an independent and legislated ombudsman with teeth can answer this call in the long run. Until this office is created, we appeal to your position as a representative of all Canadians and a member of our government to intervene on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves.
Please halt this unnecessarily hasty schedule for the creation and implementation of regulations and pollicies for C-45. Due process was denied in forcing through the legislation. It is time now to give the disabled veterans, serving members and the families their say.
Sean Bruyea Perry Gray Captain (Retired) Captain (Retired) 2 Barchester Way 233 Deerfox Dr. Nepean On Nepean, On K2G 6R1 K2J 5H5 613-825-8002 613-843-9981
C.c. Hon. Albina Guarnieri Minister of Veterans Affairs Canada Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada Hon. Stephen Harper, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Bloc Quebecois Jack Layton, Leader of the New Democratic Party Yves Côté, DND/CF Ombudsman
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