Veterans association convention set to help those who have 'slipped through the cracks'

by Tazzer Sun 12 Aug 2018, 9:11 pm

Veterans association convention set to help those who have 'slipped through the cracks'

"We have to have these conventions to make sure we are all on the same page when we fight for our veterans."

Matt Olson . Published Aug 12, 2018

Canada’s oldest association for military veterans is gathering in Saskatoon for their regular national convention.

Delegates from the Army, Navy, and Air Force Veterans in Canada Association are gathering for the 54th Biennial Dominion Convention to discuss ways to better serve veterans and their families in Canada.

Dominion vice-president and event chairperson Wayne Bourget said they are expecting more than 200 delegates to attend, including veterans and representatives from the federal government.

“The (association) is the oldest veteran’s group in Canada,” he said. “We lobby the government year round.”

The parade on Sunday afternoon travelled from the Sheraton Cavalier Hotel to the cenotaph at city hall. Wreaths were laid out at the cenotaph in a small ceremony including dignitaries from the local, provincial, and federal government.

The purpose of the convention, according to Bourget, is to discuss resolutions that have been brought forward by veterans and supporters in Canada. Bourget said there are 26 resolutions for the association to consider this year, and whichever resolutions are passed will be brought to discussions with Veteran’s Affairs Canada and other levels of the government.

Bourget said a number of resolutions this year are regarding support for families of veterans, who he described as having “slipped through the cracks” in Canada.

“We have very young veterans that are suffering terribly, and their families are suffering,” he said. “We have to help them, too.”

It’s also the 100th year of the association holding national conventions. Bourget said the association originally met annually before making the switch to meeting every two years.

But Bourget also said the meetings that take place during the conventions are important to make sure veterans can make their voices heard at the federal level.

“It’s very critical,” he said. “The government keeps changing different things … we have to have these conventions to make sure we are all on the same page when we fight for our veterans.”

The Army, Navy, and Air Force Veterans in Canada Association convention in Saskatoon kicked off on Aug. 11th and runs through Aug. 15th.

Saskatoon Star Phoenix

by **Vizzer** Wed 12 Dec 2018, 8:57 am

Veterans association calls Pension for Life program a ‘betrayal’ of community

GLORIA GALLOWAY PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER
OTTAWA
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 30, 2018

The umbrella organization for Canada’s veterans groups maintains former military personnel are angry that the federal government’s new lifetime pensions will not meet what they thought was a Liberal campaign promise to bring compensation for Canada’s newer disabled vets in line with what is paid to those who claimed benefits before 2006.

Brian Forbes, the chair of the National Council of Veteran Associations, has conducted an analysis of the Liberal government’s proposed Pension for Life program, which will be available starting next year to veterans who applied for benefits in 2006 or later. The report of that assessment will be released at a veterans' summit in late October.

It concurs with the findings of veterans’ advocate Sean Bruyea, who says disabled veterans, such as him, who applied for benefits prior to 2006 and fall under the old Pension Act will get more than those who qualify for the Pension for Life. Mr. Forbes calls the new program a “betrayal of the commitment to Canada’s veterans’ community.”

Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan has held more than 40 town halls with veterans to extol the merits of the proposed pension plan. He also engaged in a public fight, both in print and in the court, with Mr. Bruyea after Mr. Bruyea wrote a column in the Hill Times, an Ottawa newspaper, in February that disparaged the new program.

The minister “has been touring the country trying to market his Pension for Life concept and it’s caused a great deal of anger in many circles of the veterans community because he’s trying to sell something that is not truly correct,” Mr. Forbes said in a telephone interview last week. “And what it comes down to is the government is going to try to suggest to veterans at the summit coming up that they have somehow satisfied an election commitment of 2015, and we just don’t agree.”

Veterans association convention set to help those who have 'slipped through the cracks' WXHIAVPUS5CVJC4N5C75Q4ZLJA

In advance of the last federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that, if the Liberals won, the lifetime pensions for disabled vets, which disappeared in 2006 when the New Veterans Charter became law, would be re-established.

Mr. Forbes says in his analysis that “it was clearly understood that this commitment would specifically address the basic discrimination” that exists between what is provided under the Pension Act and what will be provided under the program that replaced it.

John Embury, a spokesman for the minister, said Friday that the objective of the new plan is to move away from the Pension Act in which “the government cuts you a cheque and says good luck. There were shortcomings in what was offered under the Pension Act that our new programs and supports have addressed.”

The new plan offers better career transition assistance, better education and training, and increased investments in veterans' mental health, Mr. Embury said.

But Mr. Forbes says in his analysis that “financial security remains a fundamental necessity to the successful implementation of any wellness or rehabilitation strategy.”

He looked at two scenarios, one in which a veteran suffers a severe and permanent impairment, and one in which he or she is moderately impaired.

In the case of the severe impairment, he says, a veteran who qualified for the Pension for Life will get $3,650 a month, but the Pension Act veteran who has no spouse or children will get $6,118 a month. And those Pension Act vets who are married and have kids will get even more.

In the case of a veteran who is determined to be just 35-per-cent disabled, according to the Forbes analysis, the Pension for Life veteran will get $402.50 monthly, while the single Pension Act vet will get $977.20.

Opposition members stood in the House of Commons on Thursday and Friday last week to demand Mr. O’Regan apologize for his treatment of Mr. Bruyea.

Even though the Veterans Affairs Department said the numbers used by the veterans' advocate in his February column were largely correct, the minister fired back with a column of his own accusing Mr. Bruyea of “stating mistruths” and writing to suit his “own agenda.”

Mr. Bruyea took the matter to small-claims court in May seeking $25,000 for the damages, he said the minister’s rebuttal did to his reputation, government lawyers persuaded a judge to throw out the case on the basis of Ontario’s Protection of Public Participation Act. The act is an anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) law created to discourage the use of litigation to stifle debate in the public interest. Mr. Bruyea plans to appeal.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-veterans-association-calls-pension-for-life-program-a-betrayal-of/

Veterans association convention set to help those who have 'slipped through the cracks'

Veterans association convention set to help those who have 'slipped through the cracks'

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