Vedder Golden Branch 280

Veterans need to shed their well-indoctrinated sense of loyalty and sacrifice to a government system that has neither shown them loyalty at the senior levels nor sacrifice.

Veterans Affairs Canada, now led by Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney, has a six-decade old habit of keeping a tight leash on CF veterans, writes veterans’ advocate Sean Bruyea.
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By Sean Bruyea, THE HILL TIMES-Feb. 06, 2012

OTTAWA—Veterans Affairs claims it wants to do business differently. The big question is: can Parliament, Canada, and veterans trust the bureaucracy? And can veterans trust that the veteran organizations will not just bark but finally bite when Veterans Affairs Canada instinctually and inevitably strays off the path?
Veterans Affairs has a six-decade old habit of keeping a tight leash on CF veterans. The department has failed to fulfill its legal and ethical obligations to Canadian Forces members and their families by denying CF veterans access to similar assistance given to World War II veterans.

This week (Feb. 8-9), Veterans Affairs will be hosting its third “stakeholder committee” meeting in Ottawa. This stakeholder committee involves executives from CF veteran groups, some of which have been clamouring to be heard for anywhere from five years to five decades.

Why the change? It is certainly not because of some sudden realization that the demographics are changing. The CF, Parliament, military veterans, their families, and even the auditor general in 1998, have been telling VAC to adequately respond to the demographic shift for almost 20 years following the Gulf War in 1990-91.

What has changed are six years of growing scandals which reveal a department in crisis and woefully out of touch with the military it claims to serve. The past two years have shone a bright light on the department’s inability to comprehend the needs of veterans and their families. They, along with Canadians are outraged at the payment of one-time lump sums for lifelong military injuries, the maximum of which ($293,000) is deceptive as the average payout is only $40,000. To put that in perspective, one year’s compensation package for a Deputy Minister like Suzanne Tining is $415,000 for a DM-2 as of April 1, 2010. This is 70 per cent more than the maximum lump sum, of which only 134 received the maximum in the first four years of the program.

This is the same deputy minister who oversaw the escalation of the privacy scandal from what could have been resolved quickly and quietly and which instead became a national outrage.

Meanwhile, in November 2010 and 2011 more than 10,000 veterans and supporters took to the streets in national public demonstrations for the first time in over 90 years protesting the department’s insensitive policies.

Why should Canada expect any better from VAC? Only 100 employees of 4,400 have worn a military uniform and not a single executive or senior manager has ever served. Of the more than 1,107 veterans with disabilities who have applied for priority hiring in the public service over 10 years, VAC has hired just 26, or 1.8 per cent.

The department seems to believe that this new stakeholder committee holds the key to reversing their losing game. What is the committee supposed to accomplish? According to the terms of reference, three of the five “roles and objectives” consist of focusing upon discussion and exploration. The remaining two roles focus upon action, responsibility for which absurdly falls upon the veteran organizations to “provide a mechanism for dissemination of information on VAC initiatives and programs.”

You see, in sharp contrast to the more dedicated and far more sympathetic frontline employees, the senior managers at the department have been briefing ministers for more than five years that the reason for the scandals, the homeless veterans, the inadequate programs and poor treatment and the overworked frontline staff is that there is a communication problem. This problem, according to senior officials, centers upon the lack of information for veterans, or, more patronizingly, veterans who don’t understand the good intentions of VAC denying the programs the veterans need.

One only has to look at the “record of decisions” from a meeting last fall to see how VAC senior managers are massaging the message and perpetuating failure. The department has thus far refused to publish actual minutes of proceedings. The “record” is most notable for what it doesn’t contain. For instance, VAC is in the process of a five- year modernization of their IT and online resources for veterans which in the words of senior officials at the last meeting, will bring VAC up to where it should have been “five years ago.”

This five-year plan met with vociferous and widespread condemnation as well as emphatic offers to petition that more resources be given to VAC. Nevertheless, the “record of decisions” leaves the five-year plan to go ahead as planned, over five years.

VAC is legally mandated for the “care, treatment and rehabilitation” of veterans and their “dependants,” as the government condescendingly calls family members. Yet, families are not represented as a stakeholder on the committee. Nor are any of the dozens of regimental or other veteran organizations which are far larger than some of the traditional CF veteran organizations.

Of those stakeholders who meaningfully contributed to the discussion, there was unanimous insistence that VAC implement all 86 recommendations from the New Veterans Charter Advisory Group published more than two years ago. The House Committee on Veterans Affairs has also unanimously insisted all recommendations be implemented immediately. The stakeholders also emphasized the immediate implementation of the more substantial recommendation of increasing payments to injured soldiers unable to work so as to match 100 per cent of actual military members’ salaries and expected career advancement.

Curiously, no mention of any of this made it into the record of decisions. Perhaps one of the most glaring omissions is the near unanimous insistence to see the “Keith Coulter Report.” This was a report prepared by a CF veteran, former Snowbird pilot, chief of Canadian Securities Establishment and most recently commissioner of Corrections Canada. Mr. Coulter submitted the report to the minister more than 18 months ago as part of the preparations for cutbacks in the department. The report remains a Cabinet confidence and no mention of this exists in the record of decisions.

Since that time, the original contract amount paid to Mr. Coulter has been amended from $18,990 to $24,995.25, and exactly $4.75 under the threshold that would require a competitive bidding process. Why has the report remained secret this long? Was Mr. Coulter asked to change the report to contradict the possibility that his original findings indicated the department did not require cutbacks?

Perhaps the most telling indication that the department intends on having the committee accomplish nothing is the committee’s “Code of Conduct and Confidentiality.” The longstanding complaint from the community of more than 700,000 retired and serving CF members has been that the government refuses to publish the minutes of advisory, stakeholder or working group meetings. The good thing is that stakeholders have not signed any confidentiality agreement nor should they seeing how so many sacrificed for open and transparent government.

It is quite clear that such confidentiality has only served to allow the department to avoid acting responsibly, effectively and comprehensively to the needs of the military and their families. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs conducts its advisory group meetings in the open with minutes and findings widely published.

In true Orwellian “doublethink,” VAC justifies such secrecy in order that “the work of the Committee will be conducted in such a manner as to foster openness and communication, respect for human dignity and diversity, with fairness and civility.”

Others see clear malicious intent in VAC’s actions. “The bureaucrats control the agenda, they control the minutes and they control the timings of the meetings,” explains Allan Cutler, president of Canadians for Accountability. “It is a ‘father-knows-best’ mentality and a ‘big brother’ attitude which allows the bureaucracy to avoid doing anything of substance.”

Taking VAC’s line of argument, if lack of communication to veterans is really the problem, then recording the meetings and publishing the minutes can only benefit veterans.

How has VAC been allowed to get away with this? Sadly, it is because of the complicity of the leadership of veteran organizations, both new and old. The Royal Canadian Legion was born in the tumultuous public protests following World War I.

However, the Legion Dominion Command wrote to its membership when veterans began organizing the 2010 public demonstrations: “Comrades, the legion as an organization does not advocate in this manner and does not condone this method of advocacy.” Executives in other veterans’ groups are equally complicit and often more passive.

Politicians and bureaucrats fear only one thing: negative media coverage which translates into lost votes and broken anonymity in maladministration. If veterans’ groups aren’t willing to exercise the very rights for which so many of their “comrades” sacrificed their lives, then bureaucrats and politicians have nothing whatsoever to fear. Stakeholder committees, advisory groups and councils become nothing more than paper tigers secretly struggling in vain. As Thomas Moore, in great futility, said when he defended himself before he was executed, “silence gives consent.”

Veterans have much to learn from Canada’s First Nations, a similarly sized population which has, at $12-billion, more than three times the annual budget of VAC devoted to its well-being. First Nations have been willing to exercise their democratic rights. Just last month, the Prime Minister sat down to intervene where the bureaucracy has failed.

Veterans need to shed their well-indoctrinated sense of loyalty and sacrifice to a government system that has neither shown them loyalty at the senior levels nor sacrifice. As cutbacks loom inevitable, it is no longer reasonable for Canada’s bravest and most marginalized to believe that senior bureaucrats absolutely loyal to Treasury Board policy can be trusted with the better angels of our nature. Veterans and their families must be loyal to themselves first and become their own angels of salvation.

Sean Bruyea is a columnist, former intelligence officer and graduate student of a master’s in public ethics at St. Paul University in Ottawa. His privacy case was settled in 2010.

news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times

By David Pugliese
Defence Watch

The search is on for a fitting location in Ottawa for the cenotaph built at Kandahar airfield to honour Canada’s Afghan war dead.

But where should it go?

Military officers have already considered sites at Dows Lake, the Beechwood Cemetery and the Canadian War Museum as locations for the reconstructed cenotaph but decided that those aren’t the best locations.

Still, the National Capital Commission, which is conducting the search for a site in Ottawa for the Canadian Forces could still determine that one of those might fit the bill.

Also under consideration is the Nortel Campus, which will be the new home for the majority of Defence Department employees and Canadian Forces members working in Ottawa and Gatineau.

There are, however, concerns that the Nortel site is too far outside Ottawa’s downtown core and would not allow for easy accessibility for the general public. It’s not like the National War Monument which is right in the middle of downtown.

Could there be some green space near the old War Museum or one of the parks down there, near the peacekeeping monument?

Or what about one of the parks near Dow’s Lake, along the canal?

The military wants to announce the location of the site next year, with a finished cenotaph unveiled by the end of 2014, the year the current training mission of Afghan national security forces is to end.

On the cenotaph are 149 plaques that honour Canadian Forces members who died as well as Foreign Affairs official Glyn Berry, Calgary Herald journalist Michelle Lang, and Marc Cyr, a civilian from the company SNC Lavalin that was under contract to the Defence Department. Another 40 plaques honour the 39 U.S. military and one civilian member who died while serving under Canadian command. A plaque is also to be added for Master Cpl. Byron Greff, the most recent Canadian fatality in the Afghan war. He was killed in Kabul by a suicide bomber.

Any ideas on where it should go?

Saturday, December 03, 2011

By Scott Taylor ,Ottawa Sun

A Pembroke man who spent 28 years in the Canadian Forces is among the first 13 Canadians to receive benefits from Veterans Affairs for contracting Alzheimer’s disease at least partially due to his time in the field.
Steve Discher suffers from an aggressive type of early Alzheimer’s disease.
Only 50 when he was diagnosed, a doctor told his wife Sonia to start thinking about where she would put Steve when she was no longer able to care for him.
In fact, he was told he had about six years to live, most of them to be spent in oblivion.
Cutting-edge stem cell treatments have noticeably slowed the disease’s progression, but he needs them about once a year and he can’t get them in Canada.
On Nov. 22 Veteran’s Affairs tabbed 13 former soldiers who have Alzheimer’s to receive financial and medical benefits.
“I just got a letter in the mail (Tuesday) saying Steve has been approved with the VA,” Sonia said.
“They still need to do an assessment on how disabled he is before they will let me know the final percentage (of the lump sum), but great news nonetheless. It means so much to us.”
Last spring, the Montgomery Legion held an event that raised more than $16,000 for treatment Discher received in Miami. Sonia Discher broke down and cried when the cheque was presented but even through her tears she knew that there would be a next year and one after that. It was just going to become more difficult.
Her biggest fear was Veteran’s Affairs saying Steve was not a candidate for medical benefits like prescriptions and a caregiver to help him get around should he one day need it.
He also couldn’t receive a supplement to his salary when he’s no longer able to work.
This latest news changes all that. A spokeswoman said it was the right thing to do.
“Veterans Affairs Canada places the highest priority on making sure veterans and their families have the support they need, when they need it,” said spokeswoman Janice Summerby in an email.
“In general, disability benefits can be provided in cases where a medical condition is caused or aggravated by military service, or if the condition had its onset during Special Duty Service, such as the Gulf War, Bosnia, Afghanistan. Members are covered 24-7 for any disabilities that might arise.

Subject: MESSAGE FROM DOMINION COMMAND
RE: WestJet Baggage for Veterans
Hello everyone.
On behalf of Dominion Command, please post the following information in your branch for veteran’s information.
Thank you.

A CF 75 card, now known as an NDI 75 card, shall be issued to any member of the CF who has completed 10 or more years of service in any component of the CF or who, at time of release, was entitled to an annuity.
People may apply to the Director Military Careers Administration and Resource Management 3-2 at 613-996-7901 or 613-992-1228. CF Veterans are eligible for the baggage fee exception with WestJet provided that they have their NDI 75 – Record of Service Card with them and present it to the WestJet agent at check in.
This will enable them to check in a second bag without having to pay the $20 fee to do so.
Please note that overweight fees will apply if their bags are over 50 lbs and any additional bags (3rd bag or more) would be subject to fees as well.

R.J. (Bob) Butt
Director Communications
The Royal Canadian Legion

A new music video from the Military Families Fund. Featuring many Canadian music stars… click the link below.

Standing Strong & True (For Tomorrow) Official Music Video (HD)

Veterans Affairs Canada
News Release
November 8, 2011

Government of Canada Supports Private Member’s Bill Addressing Mischief Relating to War Memorials

Ottawa – The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, today announced that the Government of Canada is supporting Private Member’s Bill C-217, which would make it an offence to commit mischief in relation to a monument that honours Canadians who died as a consequence of war.

“Our cenotaphs and monuments are powerful reminders of the sacrifices that generations of Canadians have made for the peace and freedom we enjoy today,” said Minister Blaney. “Our Government is proud to support Bill C-217 which will enforce strict punishments for those who dishonour the memory of our Veterans by defacing war memorials within our communities.”

The proposed bill would make it an offence to commit mischief in relation to property, buildings, or structures, including a war memorial or cenotaph, that primarily serve as a monument in honour of persons who were killed or died as a consequence of war. The bill also proposes the creation of mandatory minimum penalties that would be the same whether the Crown proceeds by indictment or by way of summary conviction: a $1,000 fine for a first offence; fourteen (14) days imprisonment for a second offence; and, thirty (30) days imprisonment for a third and subsequent offence.

“As Canadians, we have a duty as a nation to preserve our memorials in honour of our fallen men and women, our Veterans and those who continue to serve Canada today,” said Minister Blaney. “We must
respect our war memorials as they symbolize the important contributions of our Veterans and service men and women.”

An online version of the Private Member’s Bill is available at www.parl.gc.ca/.

180194 Pte W Christian

This story started a few years ago. A unknown man came into the Branch and asked to see somebody about a medal. I was called and he handed me a medal without a ribbon, What is it he asked me, I explained it was a WW1 Victory Medal, has it any value he asked, I explained that it had no monetary value but had historical value. After a long pause he said you guys keep it. I asked where did you get it, from a guy at a gas bar, I paid $50.00.
I went to the RCMP to see if it was stolen, they had no record of the medal.
Engraved on the rim was Pte Christian 7th Battalion. The National Archives were most helpful and sent me a copy of Pte Christian’s enlistment documents. At that time Pte Christian began to come to life.
William Christian was born 19th May 1895 in Liverpool England, to parents Wm & E J Christian of Liverpool England. The family came to Canada, and settled in Errington BC, he worked as a rancher. He enlisted in the 88th Battalion Victoria Fusiliers 1 Nov 1915, 5ft 4in, fair complexion, green eyes, brown Hair. Sgt E Tucker was the enlisting NCO in Victoria. He trained at Valcartier and went to France and served with A Company, 7th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division. The war diary of the 7th Battalion shows him being wounded on the 15th Feb and dying on the 16 Feb 1918. Bill is interned in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, Barlin Communal Cemetery and remembered on page 384 of the Book of Remembrance in Ottawa.
Bill was almost certainly at the Battle of Vimy, and endured the horrors of trench warfare for a long time. It was impossible to trace the family,
Bills medal is displayed in our Medal Case, when you look at it remember a young man of 23 who gave his life for Canada. It’s fitting that Pte W Christian`s story should be told as the Branch remembers the sacrifice of our Veterans on Vimy Day Parade 9 April 2011.

Tom Quirke

On November 1st, 2011 the medal was carried to the BC Regiment HQ. Here is the a summary:

The Branch was represented by President Tom Quirke, Sgt at Arms Walter Webster, Walter Georgeson and Monica Meusse.

President Quirke presented the Victory Medal of Pte. William Christian, 7 Bn, CEF and archive material to the BC Regt Association in the Officers’ Mess. The Regimental Association was represented by President Ted Hawthorne, Secretary Treasurer Jerry Couling and President Emeritus Archie Steacy. The Victory Medal will be displayed with those medals of Pte. Christian’s comrades in arms in the Regimental Museum.

Ted Hawthorne presented a Certificate of Appreciation to the Branch in recognition of their support.

Our guests were provided with a thorough tour of The Drill Hall, including the Officers’ Mess, WOs’ and Sgts’ Mess, the Regimental Museum, the Memorial Wall and the many excellent display cabinets on the drill square.

PS. Photos of this event are available in the Branch Photo Gallery Albums.

Published On Mon Oct 17 2011

OTTAWA
The federal government could be hit with a class action lawsuit, accused of shortchanging badly wounded veterans.
A national law firm has agreed to launch a constitutional challenge on behalf of wounded and injured soldiers, arguing that the financial benefits they get are significantly less than the damages they’d be entitled to if they had suffered similar injuries in a car crash or workplace accident.
“Anyone who sits in a room and talks to these guys . . . is going to know it’s just not fair,” said Donald Sorochan, a senior partner with the Vancouver office of Miller Thomson.
It’s not the first time the government has faced criticism over its controversial New Veterans Charter, which introduced sweeping changes to the benefits for injured soldiers.
But the prospect of a class action lawsuit raises the stakes for a Conservative government that has staked part of its political fortunes on its treatment of the military.
Sorochan said the veterans’ charter “smells of bureaucrats cutting costs.”
“I just can’t imagine how politicians allowed this to happen,” he said in an interview Monday.
Faced with criticism, the government tinkered with its benefits package, including the promise of at least $40,000 a year for veterans in rehabilitation, or until age 65 if they cannot be employed.
As well, there was expanded eligibility for additional monthly allowances — up to $1,632 a month for seriously injured veterans — and a new $1,000 monthly payment for the most seriously injured.
But critics say the benefits still don’t ensure financial security for wounded veterans whose livelihood has been threatened by their injuries.
“It’s not an improvement,” Sorochan said. “I don’t believe there’s a politician in Parliament who would agree with that if they knew it was happening.”
Rather than challenge the treatment of individual soldiers, the law firm decided the best route would be a class action suit to “challenge the whole structure.” The law firm has offices nationwide able to help wounded soldiers “all across the country,” Sorochan said. “We’ve got a group of young people and some older ones in each of our offices that are ready to throw themselves into this.
“But what surprises me is that it’s necessary.”
He said the law firm is also hoping to work with its many clients to get career help for wounded soldiers as they make the transition to civilian jobs.
“We want to bring assistance to the soldiers beyond the legal. A lot of them are still clinging to the military but they don’t have a career there,” he said. “We’ll do whatever is necessary to work with others that want to do the right thing for these veterans.”
Challenged on the topic of veterans benefits in Parliament Monday, Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney defended the government’s record, saying it has invested billions of dollars in veterans benefits.

• Additional Details on the Enhanced New Veterans Charter Act

Ottawa — The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Eve Adams, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, announced today that significant enhancements to the New Veterans Charter take effect this week and will help thousands of seriously ill and injured Veterans who require additional financial support.
“Our Government promised that the New Veterans Charter would evolve with the needs of the men and women it serves. With our latest enhancements, we’re delivering on that promise,” said Minister Blaney. “With the Enhanced New Veterans Charter Act, an immediate $189 million has been set aside over the next five years to ensure that seriously injured Canadian Forces Veterans receive adequate financial support. This will grow to $2 billion over the life of the program.”
The Enhanced New Veterans Charter Act provides additional monthly support for Veterans who are seriously ill and injured, as well as flexible new payment options for recipients of a disability award. It is estimated that a minimum of 4,000 Veterans will qualify for the enhanced financial support over the next five years alone.
“We understand that the needs of today’s Veterans are often complex-whether these men and women served our country here in Canada or overseas in such troubled places as Bosnia or Afghanistan,” said Ms. Adams. “The enhancements to the New Veterans Charter are a tangible example of how we are changing to meet these needs of our Veterans and our men and women in uniform.”
Enhancements to the New Veterans Charter:
• A minimum pre-tax income of $40,000 a year for Veterans who are in rehabilitation or, if they are no longer able to be gainfully employed, until age 65;
• Expanded eligibility for additional monthly allowances (worth up to $1,632 per month, payable for life) for seriously injured Veterans;
• A new $1,000 monthly supplement to the Permanent Impairment Allowance (payable for life) to help our most seriously injured or ill Veterans who are unable to return to suitable, gainful employment; and
• New payment options for Canadian Forces members and Veterans receiving a disability award. While these men and women still have the choice of a lump-sum payment, they are also now able to receive a disability award as either an annual payment (with interest) over any number of years they choose, or as a combination of a partial lump-sum payment and annual payments (with interest).
For more information on the changes at Veterans Affairs Canada, visit veterans.gc.ca.

I am writing to you about something that has caught my attention recently—the Animals in War Dedication Project, a movement to create a monument honouring the animals that served Canadian and Allied forces in war.
At the helm of the project is a small working group, the Animals in War Dedication Committee, which has made tremendous progress in a short time securing the National Capital Commission’s approval of a prominent site for the monument, and the design services of well-known Canadian sculptor David Clendining.
I am impressed by the outpouring of encouragement from people all across the country for the monument. School children are particularly enthusiastic. As one fifth-grader said about the many animals conscripted for wartime duty, “They couldn’t say no—it’s not their fault they don’t talk human.”
I find this a worthy and exciting undertaking. I also believe that those 22 bronze figures marching under the National Memorial Arch in Ottawa and representing the some 116,000 brave souls who died in the two World Wars and Korea would want this project to succeed. If they had a voice they would tell us how attached they were to their animals; how they depended upon them for food, artillery support and for evacuation of the wounded; and how their animals also suffered fear, pain, cold, gassing and shock, and that the nation’s war losses would have been much higher but for their loyal animals.
Please contribute to the Animals in War Dedication. For budgeting purposes it would be helpful if you could let Lloyd Swick, the group project officer, know of your willingness to participate.
The unveiling date is slated for the fall of 2012, and so funding is now the top priority. Total project costs are estimated at $105,000. This amount covers the artist and base construction fees, NCC fees, and a contingency sum.
The project does not qualify for charitable status because it is not an ongoing event, and will be closed once the funds have been secured. Any overage will go to animal humane societies.
Using the following bank account numbers, donations can be made at any branch of:
TD Canada Trust-#268-5218857; RBC-#00496-1010362.

Donations can also be made by cheque or money order payable to:
The Animals in War Dedication Fund
c/o Mr. Tim Fuller,
63 Central Park
Ottawa, Ontario
K2C4A5

I will be pleased if you feel you are able to support the project and, additionally, ask for your help in contacting other possible donors.

For further information about the project, please get in touch with:
Lloyd Swick
On behalf of the Animals in War Dedication Fund
613-228-8914
Ottawa ON

Read Doug Hempstead’s article in the Toronto Sun about the Animals in War Dedication Project:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/07/13/18411806.html

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