The government continues to effectively and illegally deduct pain and suffering payments from their LTD income.
DND Photo
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By SEAN BRUYEA
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Published: Monday, 07/02/2012 12:00 am EDT
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OTTAWA—Disabled Canadian Forces veterans and their families breathed a collective sigh of relief on May 29 when Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced the government would not be appealing a Federal Court decision…
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…
This isn’t a game. Pain and suffering payments are often the only thing left for the military to know that their sacrifices meant something to Canada and to Canadians. To continue deducting their value also ‘extinguishes’ the value of military sacrifice.
By Sean Bruyea -THE HILL TIMES
Published: Monday, 05/07/2012 12:00 am EDT
OTTAWA—A…
Medically discharged veterans Ron Cundell (left) and Dennis Manuge (centre) listen as Veterans Ombudsman Col. (ret.) Patrick B. Stogran (right) speaks at a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday Aug 17, 2010.
Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Michael Tutton
Halifax— The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, May. 01, 2012 5:31PM EDT
Last updated Monday, May. 07, 2012 4:22PM…
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…
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…
by Byron Christopher-THE HILL TIMES-February 13, 2012
Re: “Just one more reason for a commission of inquiry into veterans’ issues,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 23, p. 10, by Sean Bruyea). Hats off to Sean Bruyea for his thoughtful article on how vets are being screwed over by the Canadian government. It’s an odd…
by Roseanne Dornan-THE HILL TIMES-February 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). My husband Steven Dornan, a veteran of both Bosnia and Afghanistan, was released medically from a very prestigious military career after…
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 Don Leonardo-THE HILL TIMES-February, 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). I find Mr. Larlee’s letter troubling for a number of reasons. He completely sidestepped the statistical evidence in Sean Bruyea’s article…
Disabled veterans will never feel justice has been truly served under the current composition of the VRAB, nor will justice be served until each tribunal possesses someone with relevant military experience and the ability to effectively communicate/provide advice based on his/her experience of the rigors of war/peace.
By Michael Blais-The Hill…
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…
by John Larlee (VRAB CHAIR)-THE HILL TIMES-January 30, 2012.
Re: “Just one more reason for a commission of inquiry into veterans’ issues,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 23, p. 10, by Sean Bruyea. In his column, Mr. Bruyea presents his opinions about the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) and the administrative law process….
For Canada’s injured military, veterans and their families, there are few government agencies so singularly reviled as the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.
Photograph courtesy of Sgt. Lance Wade, DND, Combat Camera
Maj.-Gen. Jonathan places poppies on every plaque on the Memorial of the Fallen at Kandahar Airfield at the last Remembrance Day…
2012 Pension Act Rates including Disability Pension, Exceptional Incapacity Allowance and Attendance Allowance, click on this sentence.
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2012 Lump Sum rates for the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act (a.k.a. NVC), click on this sentence.
LINK TO CBC RADIO BROADCAST: DEC 19, 2011 (click here)
Sean Bruyea says veterans should be given more opportunities to enter the public service. (The Canadian Press)
Advocates say departments not hiring from priority list for injured soldiers
CBC NEWS Posted: Dec 19, 2011 6:44 AM ET
Advocates for Canadian veterans say a priority list aimed…
The responsibility for designating a Special Duty Area (SDA) and a Special Duty Order (SDO) lies with the Minister of National Defence. The process also involves advising the Minister of Veterans Affairs due primarily to the fact that service in either is “integral to the provision of benefits” [1]
SDA’s and SDO’s require two basic criteria…
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 …
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…
There is much talk of unity which all seems to hinge upon one supreme leader. There are many options as to how a unified organization can be structured but I would suggest that the search for a supreme leader places too much hope and responsibility in one person’s hands. Just as the new organization would represent many voices, the leadership should…
Veterans Affairs is trying to slip under the summer radar a sleight-of-hand approval for regulations on injured soldiers’ benefits. We should not be surprised.
By Sean Bruyea
The Hill Times: Published July 18, 2011
OTTAWA—Just as the sun will rise and we all will one day die, Veterans Affair Canada can always be counted upon to pull…
Kenneth Young is an articulate and persistent advocate for the rights of disabled veterans and their families. Today, Kenneth drafted profound commentary on the current lack of debate at the public and national level as to how veterans and their families are being (mis)treated (see below).
I am honoured that a single line of my article posted on VeteransofCanada.ca…
This weekend (July 8,9 & 10, 2011) the Canadian Veterans National Rendezvous will take place in Niagara Falls. Michael Blais, the founder of the Canadian Veterans Advocacy is the main organizer of the 2011 Rendezvous. He was also the organizer of the first national day of protest in support of veterans held on November 6,…
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…
(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…
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 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 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 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,…
The five year controversy about veterans’ benefits has reached critical mass in 2010. I and a handful of veterans and our families stood up on May 10, 2005 and publicly pointed out the poor judgement in programmes which were created in secrecy, replaced lifelong compensation with a one-time lump sum and in spite of a an…
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 …