Veterans say the Veterans Review and Appeal Board takes a far too legal interpretation of its responsibilities and that the hearings are intimidating and dehumanizing.
Photograph by Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Veterans files: Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney, pictured with Tory MP Candice Hoeppner.
By Ian Bron and Allan Cutler
Published: Monday, 02/27/2012 12:00 am…
By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press
Winnipeg Free Press Online Posted: 02/16/2012 4:21 PM
OTTAWA – Veterans Affairs Canada and the independent board that reviews claims of ex-soldiers grappled with allegations of leaked personal information long before a privacy scandal blew up in public.
A series of leaked documents show the department and the…
Just when Ottawa bureaucrats and politicians thought they would have a quiet week following unsuccessful attempts to placate stakeholders in an Ottawa conference room this week (click here for article), all of Hades breaks loose. One conscientious Canadian reader was supportive of my latest piece (click here) . If only Ottawa was as supportive of…
by Murray Brewster- THE CANADIAN PRESS-2012/02/12
OTTAWA – A prominent, long-standing member of the country’s Veterans Review and Appeal Board had his privacy violated twice in an alleged smear campaign meant to discredit him using his private medical information as ammunition, The Canadian Press has learned.
The behind-the-scenes fight involving Harold Leduc…
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.
Photograph by Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Veterans files: Veterans Affairs Canada, now led by Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney, pictured on Parliament Hill in…
Our democratic building can withstand removing the bureaucratic and political façade which fails to cultivate trust through collaboration, coordination and cooperation.
Photograph by Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Power and Parliament: Should we care that we have lost substantial faith and much trust in Ottawa and its institutions, asks government accountability advocate Sean…
The reality is that the senior mandarins are the ultimate arbiters of power in Ottawa, not the politicians. And the oft-criticized hyper-centralized culture is centered not in the PMO but in Treasury Board and the PCO.
By Sean Bruyea
The Hill Times: Published September 19, 2011
OTTAWA—We …
(The following article (at the link below) is excerpted from the 2011 report compiled and released by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression “REPORT CARD” on the state of freedom of expression in Canada. This article articulates the reasoning for the government of Canada’s reprehensible grade in how it (mis)treats and deters whistleblowers from providing…
With a majority Government, CJFE says it’s time for Prime Minister Harper to keep his promises to reform the Access to Information system
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression-CNW-May 9, 2011.
TORONTO, May 9 /CNW/ – For the second year in a row, the Harper government has received a failing grade from Canadian Journalists for…
By Sean Bruyea-THE HILL TIMES-April 11, 2011
OTTAWA—Just prior to the election campaign kick-off, Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn showed just how out of sync he and some in the department are with veterans and Canadians, not to mention Canadian law and Treasury Board policies. He recently made a number of public…
By David Hutton-THE HILL TIMES-March 21, 2011.
Photograph by Jessica Bruno, The Hill Times
In the spotlight: Former public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet, pictured at the House Public Accounts Committee on March 10 on the Hill.
Former integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet’s testimony to the House Public Accounts Committee seemed to be all…
By Ian Bron, Allan Cutler-THE HILL TIMES-March 21, 2011.
When Christiane Ouimet was appointed as the first integrity commissioner in 2007 there was no reason to think anything but the best: her long service in the bureaucracy seemed free of blemishes, and she had experience in investigations and training in law
When…
By Sean Bruyea-THE HILL TIMES-March 21, 2011.
In a most bizarre déjà vu, history repeated itself on March 11 when the House passed Bill C-55. The bill was sold as the fix-for-all that ails veterans’ legislation originally passed in 2005, legislation which replaced lifelong payments for pain and suffering for injured soldiers…
By Jessica Bruno-THE HILL TIMES-March 21, 2011.
The gag order on former public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet’s $500,000 exit deal with the government is the most concerning part of the arrangement, says prominent lawyer Paul Champ.
“If this was a private sector settlement then that would make sense, but we’re dealing with…
By Jessica Bruno-THE HILL TIMES-March 14, 2011.
Former disgraced public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet, who defiantly refuted Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s scathing report last week of her office and her conduct on Parliament Hill, may get the chance to tell her side of the story again when she’s called before the…
By Ken Rubin-THE HILL TIMES-December 6 2010.
OTTAWA—Ottawa under the Harper government operates with the principle that only a few insiders need to know what’s really going on. This results in tightly-controlled spin on what is said and makes a mockery of public access.
For example, more than 900 Army personnel are to…
By Perry Gray-THE HILL TIMES-November 15, 2010.
Cynthian Münster, The Hill Times
Time for a royal commission: Perry Gray is a retired Canadian Forces intelligence officer and a chief editor of veterans.info.
OTTAWA—Considering the national outcry against the so-called “New Veterans Charter” and the lump sum these past few months, it is interesting to note…
By David Hutton, Allan Cutler, and Duff Conacher-THE HILL TIMES-November 1, 2010.
The following is letter sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, NDP Leader Jack Layton, and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe last week.
It is ironic that, even while we were preparing this letter to you, calling for (among…
By Jessica Bruno-THE HILL TIMES-October 25, 2010
Christiane Ouimet, Canada’s first federal public sector integrity commissioner, who resigned last week as her office is being investigated by Auditor General Sheila Fraser, will be called before the House Government Operations Committee to explain the situation surrounding her departure.
“The committee agreed that we should…
By Ian Bron-THE HILL TIMES-October 18, 2010
Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Whistleblower: Sean Bruyea, pictured on the Hill.
OTTAWA—For the past few months the media have been making revelation after revelation about the management of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The first issue to hit the headlines dealt with the misrepresentation of the…
By Jack Granatstein-THE HILL TIMES-October 18, 2010
The Department of Veterans Affairs has a proud record. Founded in 1944 to care for and reintegrate into civil society the more than one million men and women who served in the Canadian Armed Forces in the Second World War, DVA was an ornament of …
Only a non-partisan public inquiry will fix this profoundly flawed department. A judicial royal commission would guide Canada to re-establish its commitment to injured military, veterans, and their families.
By SEAN BRUYEA |
Published: Monday, 10/18/2010 12:00 am EDT
Veterans and all Canadians are grappling with revelations that federal bureaucrats have repeatedly and…
By Michael L. Blais-THE HILL TIMES-October 11, 2010
NIAGARA FALLS, ONT.—The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity on the veterans’ front. Nationally, veterans continue to rally in defence of Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran, and the serious concerns he has identified.
Revelations pertaining to repeated VAC violations of retired captain Sean…
By TIM NAUMETZ-THE HILL TIMES-October 11, 2010
Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says she is concerned other federal departments may be gathering and circulating personal information about critics of the government in the same way the Veterans Affairs Department improperly gave a Cabinet minister medical files about Gulf War veteran Sean Bruyea when he tried to expose…
Editorial-THE HILL TIMES-October 11, 2010
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart announced last week that she’s launching a wide-ranging audit of Veterans Affairs Canada after her office found the privacy rights of former Gulf War veteran Sean Bruyea had been seriously breached.
“What we found in this case was alarming,” Ms. Stoddart said in…
Sean Bruyea has strived to work in whatever institution or venue which would help increase the awareness of and improve programmes for the plight of injured soldiers and their families. To that end, Sean has worked with all political parties and all parties have been willing to work with Sean to help injured soldiers and…
Click here for legal claim link (PDF)
Editorial-THE HILL TIMES-October 4, 2010
The Hill Times’ Tim Naumetz last week broke the story that Canada’s Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran is under treatment for operational stress injury that dates back to the 1990s and to his time in Bosnia and that he fears Veterans Affairs Canada may have improperly shared his personal medical files and…
by Sean Bruyea-VICTORIA TIMES-COLONIST-September 28, 2010 p. A.12
Canadians learned last week that federal bureaucrats at Veterans Affairs Canada freely offered extensive amounts of my confidential medical and financial information to federal cabinet ministers without my permission.
And at least 850 federal employees, political staffers and politicians exchanged or accessed the most intimate…
THE HILL TIMES-July 26, 2010
Re: “Feds’ idea to reward public servants with cash doomed,” The Hill Times, July 19, p. 13). Sean Bruyea and Allan Cutler make a number of valid points regarding the culture of intimidation that frequently surfaces in the day-to-day operations of the federal government. Certainly few would deny that “whistle-blowers” who…
Our government has an abysmal record of listening to concerned federal employees brave enough to speak up.
By Sean Bruyea and Allan Cutler-THE HILL TIMES-July 19, 2010
OTTAWA—The federal government’s hope to save money by rewarding public servants with cash incentives for cost-cutting ideas hinges on one integral premise: that they will be willing to come…
Government culture punishes whistleblowers, rather than rewarding them
By Sean Bruyea And Allan Cutler Edmonton Journal July 4, 2010
The federal government’s hope to save money by rewarding public servants with cash incentives for cost-cutting ideas hinges on one integral premise: that they will be willing to come forward and speak out against the status quo.
This premise…
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4520027&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3
For complete testimony, questions and answers, please click here.
Mr. Sean Bruyea (Retired Captain (Air Force), Advocate and Journalist, As an Individual):
Thank you, Chair. Good morning, Chair, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting me back to testify. More importantly, thank you for continuing your extensive study on the new Veterans Charter and the well-being of disabled…
For complete testimony, questions and answers, please click here
Mr. Sean Bruyea (Retired Captain (Air Force), Advocate and Journalist, As an Individual):
Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you very much for inviting me and my wife here today to testify on the new Veterans Charter.
In many ways, Canada’s veterans were betrayed by the MPs who…
While Canadians die in an effort to bring transparent and accountable government to Afghanistan, Canada’s government is waging a war to suppress transparency and accountability in Ottawa.
By Sean Bruyea-The Hill Times-Published August 3, 2009
While Canadians die in an effort to bring transparent and accountable government to Afghanistan, Canada’s government is waging a war to…