By Toni Vincenzi
As Canadians we feel universal pride in the actions of our troops. As Canadians we should feel personal pain, even anguish over the treatment Canada shows to its disabled veterans.
If you are a Canadian serviceman or women injured in the line of duty, your treatment from the people you took an oath to protect will leave you feeling shameful, questioning of purpose, and lost in the system.
The saddest part of all will be the destruction of the myth that Canada cares for returning troops and their families. The indignities that you are forced to endure are increased tenfold by the level of bureaucratic disregard, even justification of their actions. The most painful part is the fact that this level of service has been allowed to exist as the norm for such a long time.
Our Canadian government, with its normal level of hindsight, has come to recognize the public dismay of the truths being presented to them by all branches of service.
Our government is astute enough to realize that this is a potential election target, as such they have proposed to rectify the situation. The veterans affairs minister touted his Bill C-55 as a “new veterans’ charter”. He then declared that this bill would act as a template for all settlements now and in the future.
This is the future for Canadian serviceman and women, returning as disabled veterans. Injured on active service, forced to live with the reality of missing two legs, returning home to a young wife, two small children. Their only trade is the military their only goal, the preservation of family. While injured and being cared for in the system, they receive full pay and a payment for pain and suffering.
When they are deemed permanently disabled, the uniform comes off, all protection of the services is gone. They receive 75 five per cent of their former pay, less the amount for pain and suffering clawed back by the Canadian forces insurance program. This amount is taxed again, bringing their net pay down to 65 per cent of their pay on active service. In real dollars they are hopeful for at a pay of approximately $32,000 per year.
Ask yourself is the loss of two legs worth this amount of money? The minister of finance is suggesting that he will remove the GST on poppies and memorial wreaths, bless his heart!
The worst comment of this reality is the fact that this level of payment is not yet approved, this is what our servicemen and women are fighting to get!!
The minister counters this claim with the fact that veterans could receive up to $58,000 per year. After previewing the government claim it is clear beyond any question that to achieve this amount one would have to overcome a system as dysfunctional and as self serving as our own WCB network. Canadians need no explanation of the travesty that program represents.
The bottom line is this: there is no plausible explanation for the government’s action regarding the disparaging treatment of our veterans.
The government of the day will only respond to agitation by the people, to rectify a problem long considered buried with the veterans who paid the most for their country.
Our veterans died with the belief of a nation based on care, and responsibility, towards its military. It is up to us to force the government to live up to their trust.
Tony Vincenzi is a writer living in Terrace. He can be reached at tvincenzi@msn.com.