By Yvette d'Entremont - The Weekly News
SACKVILLE - More than 100 people packed the Lower Sackville Legion last Wednesday to hear from the Veterans Ombudsman and to share their concerns and frustrations with Veterans Affairs Canada.
The informal town-hall meeting was the fifth in a series of public consultations taking place across Canada between Veterans Ombudsman Patrick Stogran and retired and currently serving military and RCMP members.
"Our job is really to call bulls--t in the system," Stogran told the legion crowd.
After a lengthy introduction and overview of his mandate, Stogran called a short break and lost a large chunk of his audience. But those who remained were eager and active participants.
A special device enabled attendees to click a button to register their responses to questions posted on a large screen at the front of the room. The results from the audience were available and on-screen within seconds.
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Patrick Stogran |
One question posed to the audience during the first half of Stogran's presentation asked what they considered the top "unfair" issue facing veterans.
Although most communities he has already visited overwhelmingly selected "red tape" as their answer, 28 per cent of the crowd at the Sackville Legion chose the Veterans Review and Appeal Board, 23 per cent chose the SISIP claw back, and 17 per cent chose "red tape."
One of the most discussed issues of the evening when the floor opened up was the issue of pensions versus lump sum payments. Veterans and currently serving members of all ages and genders expressed their opinions on the issue, with the vast majority encouraging Stogran to push for pensions.
"If I'd have had $250,000 it would have been gone in three years," said one young veteran who described himself as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "I would not have seen a financial counsellor, I would never have invested ... I'd be very hungry today."
A currently serving member asked Stogran to consider looking at a reintegration program for veterans who've suffered a disability while serving their country.
Stogran agreed and said making seriously wounded veterans independent was very important. He cited the comment that a soldier reintegrating into society was 10 days away from homelessness.
That prompted one young man to stand up and ask why no one would help him. After eight years in the military, he had been discharged and was unable to get assistance.
"If not for my parents, I would be living on the streets," he said, outlining how he'd been injured during his military career working with tanks and fighting forest fires in British Columbia.
"The system should take care of me, at least medically, reeducate me to do something with my life. All I know is heavy equipment."
In addition to reintegration, Stogran said it was important to address the struggles faced by people leaving the forces. The nature of the Armed Forces, he explained, meant it was an integral part of a person's life and many suffered trauma when leaving.
A number of veterans asked why it was so difficult to uncover who qualified for which programs. They asked for more transparency and a system that considered all veterans equally, not simply based on where and when they served their country.
"It all boils down to what does the term 'veteran' cover. My husband was a veteran for 35 1/2 years of service to his country, but did not serve in a theatre of war," said one woman.
Sackville-Eastern Shore MP Peter Stoffer, who also serves as the NDP's Veterans Affair Critic, said the issues raised during the meeting were all things he hears regularly, particularly the levels of red tape and bureaucracy faced by veterans.
"Also, DVA made two or three divisions of veterans where veterans from World War I, World War II or the Korean War get this, Cold War veterans get this, those who served in Afghanistan get this," Stoffer said. "All veterans should be treated equally, military or RCMP, whether they served overseas or not. A veteran is a veteran is a veteran."
John Labelle spent 38 years in the military and worked tirelessly for five years garnering more than 130,000 signatures on a petition against the military and RCMP benefit reduction at age 65.
Although the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman couldn't help with the pension claw back issue, Labelle was glad Stogran came to his community.
"As he stated, his mandate doesn't apply to us because we're not a client," Labelle said. "Veterans are not very happy because the mandate of Veterans Affairs does not include all veterans problems, situations and issues."
ydentremont@hfxnews.ca
