By Jean Leclerc-THE HILL TIMES-March 3, 2008
Re: “Disposable soldiers: Canada must renew broken trust with its forgotten 4,260 soldiers,” (The Hill Times, Feb. 25, p. 16, by Sean Bruyea.) I have read your column concerning the unfair deductions from SISIP on former service members. As one of those former members affected by this inequity I can tell you it stinks. I suspect the government of the day will do little to change this and continue to rely on the “sorry, it’s before the courts and I can’t comment” escape route.
Why can’t they just do the right thing and fix this? As a former sergeant with the Canadian Forces, I always pushed the boundaries and ensured my people were treated fairly. If rules got in the way I worked at changing them to ensure fairness. If a little-known regular Joe like myself could change things to ensure fairness why can’t our government do it?
The government states that it is a very complex issue and can’t be done overnight. This may, in fact, be correct but what they fail to mention is that it’s their mess. Do the right thing by admitting a mistake and fixing it. For 23 years the government asked me to lead by example and now they are doing the very opposite. Shame on them.
Jean Leclerc
Trenton, Ont.