Injured North Bay veteran fighting for federal support

by Ranger Tue 17 Sep 2019, 2:23 pm

'I've spent more time fighting the Canadian government than I did fighting the Taliban and it's disgusting'

Published on: September 17, 2019

Injured North Bay veteran fighting for federal support 0918-nb-protest

Michael McNeil and his daughter, Olivia, protest outside Nipissing-Timiskaming Liberal candidate Anthony Rota's campaign office on Main Street, Monday. Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles, The Nugget

Michael McNeil says he’s spent more time fighting the Canadian government than he did fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

McNeil, a former member of 4 Engineer Support Regiment Military Force Unit, sustained a traumatic brain injury while serving overseas in 2009 and has since spent thousands of dollars on medication.

“A 300-pound IED (improvised explosive device) hit me eight feet behind my back because I drove over top of it,” he said Monday while protesting outside Nipissing-Timiskaming Liberal candidate Anthony Rota’s campaign office on Main Street.

“The impact split a 6.6-ton trailer in half and threw the vehicle up in the air. I drove 40 metres unconscious and then woke up. I took a 70-pound door off my head. However, I managed to survive. The shock wave should be enough to kill most people.”

McNeil, who was awarded the Sacrifice Medal by Veterans Affairs Canada in 2012, said the explosion changed his life.

“I went to see neurologist under Veterans Affairs and DND (Department of National Defence) care and they informed me that my brain smashed into my skull, spun sideways and twisted at the brain stem,” he said.

“My daughter has seen me have two major seizures. It (medication) was supposed to be approved and then it was denied. I had to go and fight for that. I’ve spent thousands in out-of-pocket expenses.”

McNeil said he was a little more hopeful in 2015 when the Liberal government promised to improve benefits and pensions.

But McNeil said things haven’t changed.

“I’ve spent more time fighting the Canadian government than I did fighting the Taliban and it’s disgusting. If you can tell a one-legged veteran, Brock Blaszczyk, that he is asking for more than the government can give you, shouldn’t be in power.”

McNeil was referring to Justin Trudeau’s comments in 2018 when Blaszczyk, a former Canadian solider who lost his leg in an explosion while serving in Afghanistan, was given the opportunity to ask the prime minister a question at a town hall meeting in Edmonton.

He asked Trudeau why the government was still fighting veterans’ groups in court.

McNeil said he was shocked with Trudeau’s response that veterans’ groups are asking for more than the government is able to give.

“I’m one of those veterans who is asking for more. I’m also one of the guys who will keep fighting, but not a lot of my friends will.”

Rota acknowledged McNeil has gone through a lot.

“He put his life on the line and came back with some serious injuries. He’s gone through things nobody has went through. He has a right to protest wherever he wants, but I can’t discuss his case because it’s personal.”

Rota said since 2015 the Liberals have invested $10.25 billion for better care and support services for veterans.

He said veterans’ pay has increased, and the Liberals have hired more than 700 Veterans’ Affairs staff to address wait times.

“We’ve reinstated pension for life. As well, we introduced education and training benefits up to $82,000,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we don’t know the magic formula and how we can bring them back to where they were before they left.”

Nipissing-Timiskaming NDP candidate Rob Boulet said there’s a lot of unspent money that has been assigned to veterans and their support services that isn’t being spent.

“I don’t understand why they (Liberals) are blocking it,” he said.

“Some governments can bail out large corporations, but where is the money for people like this?”

Nipissing-Timiskaming Conservative candidate Jordy Carr and People’s Party candidate Mark King were not available for comment.

https://www.nugget.ca/news/local-news/injured-north-bay-veteran-fighting-for-federal-support

by **Trooper** Tue 17 Sep 2019, 6:51 pm

Since 2006 we been hearing from the Ombudsman, countless Ministers of Veterans Affairs come out publicly saying that things are improving, but there's more to be done? OK more to be done? So here we are Sept 17, 2019 almost 13 years later and we read articles such as this one. What does this tell you? Why are we still seeing articles like this? How many more Michael McNeil's are out there in silence? How many more times do we have to read excuses from politicians such as Rota that instead of taken the time to understand why the file is not positively moving forward, they come with the same old excuse we did this, we did that, we spent this? Paying for medication from an injury from service should never be put on the disabled Veteran. I can't even believe I'm reading this right. It's pathetic that over the years, with 2 governments, not one politician has had the ability or intelligence to comprehend the main problem with the Veterans file. Not one politician sat back, and questioned the bureaucrats bringing forward drafted legislation. Things would have been much better for disabled Veterans if someone within the government would have suggested moving some services over to DND for management & funding. Order Walter Natynczyk to reinstate the pension portion of the pension act as implemented pre 2006. After all were not talking about some construction workers injury compensation system, no, we are are talking about Canadian disabled Veterans. But no, the continuous bull that comes out of those responsible for our file just continues, from one government to the next. Look at the Equitas case, yes it is true that legally the government was right in that they have no legal obligation to our file. But my god you would think that with all those politicians who had a chance to change our file back to the fairness of the pension act, one would not only have the moral heart, but the intelligence to make this pre 2006 pension alive again. It is beyond comprehension as to why our government would fall for job creation via services implemented for disabled Veterans, over a moral heart of bringing something back that was taken away from disabled Veterans. This is what Equitas was about, bringing back fairness as per the term used sacrifice for service. But the government played the legal card instead of having the respect, and moral heart that disabled Veterans deserve. I guess the government has won. But really they won disrespecting our disabled Veterans. Everything else that occurs is simply just twisted to defend the government itself. It fools a lot of people, Veterans, and Veteran groups across the board. This just enforces the governments position in claiming they spend the money, and implement the services, so I guess this makes it all right? All right for the government image at the cost of disabled Veterans. I'm hoping others will see it the way I do simply because I feel those that don't, could be unintentionally supporting the governments Public Relations image.

Injured North Bay veteran fighting for federal support

Injured North Bay veteran fighting for federal support

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