This just in from the
TO Star.
Top soldier backs ombudsman on wounded vets
August 20, 2010, 1600 hrs
Allan Woods
OTTAWA – Canada’s top soldier says complaints about the poor treatment of wounded veterans are bang on.
Veterans’ Ombudsman Pat Stogran, a retired infantry officer, went on the attack earlier this week against government officials and bureaucrats he says are letting down those who have sacrificed their lives and limbs for the country.
He was flanked by veterans from as far back as the Vietnam War and as recent as the Afghan conflict who say they’ve been ignored, been short-changed or faced hostility in their fight for compensation from Canada.
Now one more soldier with a chest full of medals and the power to influence policy is lining up beside Stogran, whose term as ombudsman ends in November.
“He has certainly voiced with clarity what the issues are,” said Gen. Walter Natynczyk, the chief of defence staff. “The issues are absolutely correct issues.”
One of the issues that most irks those wounded in the Afghan war is the government’s decision in 2006 to stop awarding monthly lifetime disability payments and to instead offer a lump-sum payment of up to $276,079 for injuries.
Disgruntled vets say the amount is much less than they would receive under the old rules and delivering it all at once makes it difficult to stretch the sum for more than a few years.
Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said this week that a survey of veterans found 69 per cent liked the lump sum payment, but that he was concerned that three out of every 10 soldiers were not satisfied. His department is looking at other options such as delivering the money in several installments.
Natynczyk, who has taken care in his term to highlight the cohort of wounded soldiers coming out of Afghanistan, said his “starting position” in the debate is that “we can’t do enough for our wounded soldiers.”
“We can’t do enough in terms of their recovery, in terms of their rehabilitation, in terms of ensuring they have all the wherewithal to gain their independence again, especially those soldiers who have suffered amputation.”
And he acknowledged that the lump-sum payment “doesn’t work for everybody.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said himself in Prince Edward Island Friday that there will be some necessary adjustments as soldiers from World War II die and the government focuses its attention on helping Afghan war vets.
“Those who have been injured in Afghanistan will become our increasing priority and that will demand some adjustment on how we run veterans programmes and is subject to a comprehensive view,” he said.
The Liberal party’s veteran’s critic, Rob Oliphant, said what’s needed is a mixed system that can provide a lump sum payment when appropriate and provide a safety net to soldiers in the form of phased pay-outs when that is the best option.
“This one size doesn’t fit all,” he said.
Oliphant is also trying to recall the House of Commons Veteran’s Affairs committee to urge the government to give Stogran a second term, particularly now that Natynczyk has come out in support of his criticisms.
That could take some time, as could the changes that the ombudsman would ultimately like to see happening. Stogran wrote on his official website Friday that if Canadians are truly upset about the way veterans are being treated, they need to exert influence on federal politicians.
“Because much of what is needed to be done is rooted in legislation, only Canada’s Members of Parliament and Senators can make those changes. The only way substantive change is going to occur is if Canada’s parliamentarians realize that this issue is a significant and urgent issue for Canadians,” he wrote, noting that veterans make up 3 per cent of the voting population, a figure that rises to 10 per cent when immediate family is factored in.