Ombudsman hears concerns from army vets Report will follow nationwide meetings
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Ombudsman hears concerns from army vets Report will follow nationwide meetings
InsideToronto.com
Veterans Affairs ombudsman and retired colonel Patrick Stogran says Canadian veterans are facing a watershed moment, and that whatever decisions are made to finalize the New Veterans Charter in the coming months will have a lasting effect for decades to come.As part of a nationwide tour, Stogran paid a visit to the Moss Park Armoury March 9 to lend an ear to both veterans and active members of the Canadian military about their concerns regarding the state of the New Veterans Charter and to what degree it addresses their needs. He says the charter is supposed to be a "one stop shop, all encompassing package" to address the needs and expectations of vets, but that currently it's not doing that. "We have recognized there are problems with the charter," he said in regards to the document that was implemented in 2006. "We are trying to fix it on the march." Since Stogram took the recently created role of Veterans Ombudsman back in November 2007, he has been researching and collecting information from interviews with veterans across Canada, and will create a report based on his findings. The report will make recommendations on how both the office and the charter can be amended so they effectively serve the needs of veterans. Stogram says soon after he took the job, he found dissatisfaction on both sides of the table. Based on the frustrations they were seeing from veterans and their families, Veterans Affairs Canada office workers knew more could be done to assist them. "Perhaps the biggest problems with the system is the red tape," he said. "One of the first things I told the people at the affairs office is that their communication sucked!" He cited documents and processes mired in "legal mumbo jumbo" as one of the reasons many veterans found the system user unfriendly, which he says limited them from accessing resources they are entitled to. Another issue facing veterans are disability payments. The new charter eliminated monthly disability payments for modern day vets. The government replaced this with one-time, lump sum payments, with a maximum lifetime payout of $250,000. The new payment system is insulting, says Gulf War veteran Ron Cundell, who was medically discharged in 1997 after he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a chronic and potentially lethal inflammatory disease that damages internal organs. He says the new charter arbitrarily puts a price on a person's life. "When I joined the military, I wrote a blank cheque to the people of Canada," he said. "So by putting a dollar value on a person's injury only goes to show the arrogance of the Canadian government." He says this has driven a wedge between veterans, because the payment system favours those who served in the Second World War or the Korean War by giving continuous payouts, unlike what is offered to veterans of modern conflicts like Bosnia or Afghanistan. Stogram thinks all veterans should be treated equally and is vehemently opposed to the lump sum payment system. "You can't give a young soldier $40,000 and expect it to be his nest egg," he said. "I've seen tons of these payments get 'invested' in brand new trucks or large screen TVs, or up their nose (a reference to cocaine). "This is the last thing we want to do." While Stogram's role as ombudsman doesn't give him executive power to make and implement decisions, he promises to bring a new level of transparency to the affairs office. One of the ways this has been achieved is through the revamped Veterans Affairs Canada website (www.vac-acc.gc.ca), which acts as a 24/7 public forum and highlights the concerns and difficulties veterans are facing. Stogram's three-year term will be up this fall, and so far there have been no announcements if he will be reappointed to stay on as ombudsman. His report is expected to be released later this year. For more information or to get in touch with the ombudsman's office, visit www.ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca