Veterans’ advocate Sean Bruyea called the payments “to senior managers at Veterans Affairs Canada way out of whack with reality.”
Photograph by: CHRIS WATTIE, REUTERS
By David Pugliese, The Ottawa Citizen May 25, 2012 6:59 PM
OTTAWA — The senior managers at Veterans Affairs Canada received almost $700,000 in bonuses and extra pay last…
Retired Canadian Forces intelligence officer, shown during an Ottawa conference on Oct. 7, 2010, warns against aggressive budget cuts at Veterans Affairs.
Chris Wattie/Reuters
Comment
By SEAN BRUYEA
Special to Globe and Mail Update
Published Wednesday, Mar. 07, 2012 7:36AM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Mar. 07, 2012 7:45AM EST
Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls enlisting in the military the …
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…
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…
by Perry Gray-THE HILL TIMES-Feb. 13, 2012
Re: “Veterans Board responds to Bruyea,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 30, p. 8, by John Larlee, chairman of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board). As an applicant and veteran, I question the veracity of Mr. Larlee’s letter. There are several different ways that a veteran may…
By Jessuca Bruno-THE HILL TIMES-Published August 22, 2011
Today’s vets more educated, know their rights, and need more flexible service than in past generations.
Veterans Affairs needs to start innovating if it’s going to serve the wave of veterans coming home from Afghanistan with a host of needs unique to their generation, says veterans advocate Michel…
By Sean Bruyea
Exclusive to VeteranVoice.info and VeteransofCanada.ca-Published July 15, 2011.
Far too many veterans shoot the messenger instead of aiming their sights on government. This is worsened by the impulsiveness which the internet encourages in instantaneous messaging. Veterans have much to contribute to determining their own destiny. The question is how to focus that energy…
By SEAN BRUYEA-THE GLOBE AND MAIL-Last updated Wednesday, Jun. 08, 2011 3:51PM EDT
Sean Bruyea (REUTERS)
For the first time in decades, a federal election witnessed all parties promising assistance for our serving and retired Canadian Forces personnel. Debate on the issue quickly died, but the problems confronting our veterans remain painfully alive.
Those problems escalated in 2006…
An unnecessary bruise upon the CF’s reputation is the continued practice of deducting pain and suffering payments from injured veterans’ reduced income under long-term disability.
By Sean Bruyea-THE HILL TIMES (Defence Policy Issue)-May 30, 2011.
It is often said that a nation is judged on how it treats its most vulnerable. Canada’s…
By Sean Bruyea- THE OTTAWA CITIZEN-November 06, 2010, p. B.7
Serving and retired soldiers know all too well what a wonderful country we have. We know this more than most because we promised to die unquestioningly for Canada and Canadians.
Those of us Canadian Forces veterans who survived the missions to the Persian Gulf,…
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 …
By Tim Naumetz-THE HILL TIMES-October 18, 2010
Quebec Liberal Senator Romeo Dallaire says injured Canadian war veterans distrust the Veterans Affairs Department to the point some would rather continue on in the Army as disabled personnel rather than risk an uncertain future dealing with the department’s now-famous bureaucracy.
Sen. Dallaire, perhaps Canada’s best-known…
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 Jeff Rose-Martland-THE HILL TIMES-October 18 2010
Amidst revelations of privacy breaches in Veterans Affairs, there is one question no one in government is asking: why?
We know that several veterans had their medical details spread around VA to people without legitimate need to know. We know that the targets of these breeches—Sean Bruyea, Pat…
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…
Click here for legal claim link (PDF)
By Sean Bruyea, Ottawa Citizen Special-September 25, 2010 10:28 AM
This past week, Canadians learned that federal bureaucrats at Veterans Affairs Canada freely offered up 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 and/or accessed the most intimate…
By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press Posted: 21/09/2010 5:12 PM
OTTAWA – Confidential medical and financial information belonging to an outspoken critic of Veterans Affairs, including part of a psychiatrist’s report, found its way into the briefing notes of a cabinet minister.
Highly personal information about Sean Bruyea was contained in a 13-page briefing note prepared by…
by Sean Bruyea, (filed in Reports)
The recent announcement by the government of Canada presented by Ministers MacKay and Blackburn included additional benefits for veterans unable to seek full time employment. Although the additional benefits target the group of marginalized veterans who need help the most, these programs are relatively minor compared to the more than…
‘A huge part of the population that elected the Conservatives were veterans and soldiers hoping for a little bit more respect for the sacrifice that they endure,’ says Sean Bruyea
By HARRIS MACLEOD-THE HILL TIMES- August 30, 2010
The Conservatives have made support for the troops an integral part of their party brand, but when the first ever veterans’ ombudsman recently blasted the government for denying veterans adequate benefits it exposed a sense of betrayal felt by soldiers and their families who thought they would be better off with Harper, said a Canadian Forces veteran and longtime advocate for disabled soldiers.
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…
by Juliet O’Neill-THE OTTAWA CITIZEN- Jan 29, 2010. pg. A.6
Canadians should be wary of a grim trend in the United States where all military suicides outnumber combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, a top mental health expert said Thursday.
Zul Merali told a forum on Parliament Hill that military suicides in Canada should be tracked and…
La Presse Canadienne-January 28, 2010
OTTAWA _ Le système de prestations aux anciens combattants du Canada récemment révisé a besoin d’une refonte, ont soutenu jeudi les députés de l’opposition libérale à Ottawa.
D’anciens soldats et policiers se sont exprimés lors d’un forum parrainé par l’opposition sur la colline du Parlement, exposant leurs griefs au sujet de la…
THE CANADIAN PRESS Jan 28, 2010 16:18:00 PM
OTTAWA – The country’s recently revised system of veterans benefits needs an overhaul, Canada’s walking wounded have told Liberal MPs.
Former soldiers and police officers, speaking Thursday at a forum sponsored by the Opposition on Parliament Hill, outlined their grievances over the 2006 Veterans Charter.
Sean Bruyea, a former military…
CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Thu. Jan. 21 2010 8:41 PM ET
A group of disabled Canadian war veterans will head to the Supreme Court of Canada today to battle the very country they once served, in an effort to recoup payments they say were unfairly clawed back.
The soldiers are trying to recoup millions of dollars they say…
By Janice Tibbetts-REGINA LEADER POST-January 21, 2010. pg. A.8
Dennis Manuge, a former soldier who served in Bosnia before he was medically released from the military, gets his day in the Supreme Court of Canada today to fight a federal policy of clawing back disability payments to thousands of injured veterans.
“We are fighting our toughest battle…
By CYNTHIA MÜNSTER-The Hill Times- Published January 18, 2010
More Canadian soldiers than ever are publicly talking about the effects of PTSD and it’s unclear how many more will return home from Afghanistan with the stress disorder, but Canadian Forces Surgeon General, Commodore Hans Jung, who was appointed to his post in July, says despite some…
By CYNTHIA MÜNSTER-The Hill Times- Published January 18, 2010
More Canadian soldiers than ever are publicly talking about the effects of PTSD and it’s unclear how many more will return home from Afghanistan with the stress disorder, but Canadian Forces Surgeon General, Commodore Hans Jung, who was appointed to his post in July, says despite some…
By Michael MacDonald-GLOBE & MAIL-March 3, 2009. pA8B.
HALIFAX — Defence Minister Peter MacKay rolled out a $21-million plan yesterday for a new network of military support centres, responding to reports that Canada is doing a poor job caring for sick and injured members of the Armed Forces, veterans and their families.
The eight centres,…
Michael MacDonald-LE DROIT- Publié le 02 mars 2009 à 11h44 | Mis à jour le 02 mars 2009 à 11h46
La Presse Canadienne
Halifax
Le gouvernement canadien a annoncé, lundi, la mise sur pied, au coût de 21 millions $, d’un réseau de huit centres de soutien qui auront pour mandat d’offrir des soins aux militaires canadiens, malades…
by Sharon Adams-LEGION MAGAZINE-March 1, 2009
Although it notes progress over the past six years in addressing operational stress injuries (OSIs) in the Canadian Forces, a December report from the interim ombudsman for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces says some military personnel and their families are still not getting the service they…