By Sean Bruyea-ESPRIT DE CORPS-April 2014 When it comes to mental health and suicides in the military, the Canadian Armed Forces can do much to come clean and diminish the self-serving rhetoric. Chief of the Defence Staff Tom Lawson claims the public focus on military suicides could be aggravating the crisis in having…
Archive for the ‘Canadian Forces Issues’ Category
The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright . The last Canadian soldiers returned from Afghanistan last week, pictured arriving in Ottawa. Veterans’ advocate Sean Bruyea says, spread over 41 years when the benefit ceases at age 65, the 24-year-old corporal takes home $23,193 annually in actual income loss. The Statistics Canada low-income cut-off in 2011…
When it comes to mental health and suicides in the military, the Canadian Armed Forces can do much to come clean and diminish the self-serving rhetoric. By SEAN BRUYEA THE HILL TIMES-Published: Monday, 03/10/2014 12:00 am EDT When it comes to mental health and suicides in the military, the Canadian Armed Forces can do much…
Maj.-Gen. David Millar tells House National Defence Committee that increased reports of PTSD show the military is ‘de-mystifying the stigma’ of mental illness. By CHRIS PLECASH | Published: Monday, 03/10/2014 12:00 am EDT Last Updated: Monday, 03/10/2014 12:59 am EDT By Chris Plecash The increasing number of Canadian Armed Forces members reporting post-traumatic stress disorder…
Without the Veterans Affairs Canada offices, political rhetoric about recognizing sacrifice and the debt owed to our military become as meaningless as graphic designs on cereal boxes. The Hill Times photographs by Jake Wright and Abbas Rana Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino. Veteran Ron Clarke, pictured on the Hill on Jan. 28. By SEAN BRUYEA…
There’s a dire need to directly involve Canadian society to help our Canadian Armed Forces veterans move closer to a productive life and away from the darkness of suicide. Photograph by Jake Wright The Hill Times Afghanistan veteran Kevin Berry, right, pictured Dec. 10 on the Hill with Conservative MP Ben Lobb, left, told the…
There is a 15 per cent to 20 per cent shortage of mental health professionals in the CAF and quality and consistency of the existing care is found wanting, exacerbated by sending military members to unmonitored outside providers. As well, by merely wiping their hands of those who don’t come forward, DND has perpetuated a…
And true democracy can only be guaranteed by transparency, responsibility, inclusiveness, open dialogue and representation of all (not just the party core). By SEAN BRUYEA Published: Monday, 11/11/2013 12:00 am EST OTTAWA—Another Remembrance Day has come and will quickly be gone. Lest We Forget. But we do forget. This is sad because now we need…
Sean Bruyea, National Post | October 28, 2013 | Last Updated: Oct 24 2:51 PM ET Veterans are in an uproar after Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino fanned the growing blaze of discontent amongst our former service men and women by penning an op-ed in which he claims there is a “tangle of misinformation regarding…
By SEAN BRUYEA Published: Monday, 10/14/2013 12:00 am EDT OTTAWA—Veterans aren’t happy and recently-appointed Veterans Affair Minister Julian Fantino is only fanning the fire with the usual parroting of bureaucratic misinformation. How do veterans and other Canadians hold a minister and his bureaucracy accountable for spreading half-truths and misleading claims? The first step to accountability…
The government continues to effectively and illegally deduct pain and suffering payments from their LTD income. DND Photo . By SEAN BRUYEA . Published: Monday, 07/02/2012 12:00 am EDT . 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…
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 year…
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 Federal…
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…
The wider federal public service has grown by 34 per cent in the last 10 years, Veterans Affairs Canada staff has grown by a mere 12 per cent. The elimination of 500 positions alone will bring VAC to below its 2001 staffing levels. Veterans Affairs Canada files: Why is Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney eagerly…
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…
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…
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 has been so…
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 way for…
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 serving 27 years….
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 appeal decisions…
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 about the Veterans…
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 Times- February 13, 2012…
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 this file photo,…
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 ceremony in…
2012 Pension Act Rates including Disability Pension, Exceptional Incapacity Allowance and Attendance Allowance, click on this sentence. – 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…
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…
Alienation and abandonment by the Canadian government of its Canadian Forces veterans has long scarred our noble warriors and their families in a much more profound manner than what’s motivating the current worldwide protests. Into war: Canadian soldiers pictured in Afghanistan. Sean Bruyea says 600,000 CF veterans have been denied comprehensive programs including education in…
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 should be forgiven if we believe that ministers,…
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…
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…
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…
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…