In May 2021, I appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs. I spoke, among other things, about the broken system at Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), a system that has been plagued by problems. The consequence of these problems is that Canada has repeatedly failed its duty and commitment to care for Veterans and…
Archive for the ‘Federal Public Service’ Category
By SEAN BRUYEA APR. 1, 2019 The only magic the Liberals will see is how they allowed bureaucrats to pass the wand over an election promise that made not just veterans’ benefits disappear but veterans’ votes for Liberals in the next election. Canada’s new Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay, pictured on March 1, 2019, at Rideau Hall…
The revolving door at Veterans Affairs is making Canada’s relationship with veterans even worse Sean Bruyea · for CBC News · Posted: Mar 13, 2019 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: March 13 Veterans and their families need to tell the story of how they have been repeatedly stigmatized, marginalized, betrayed, and abandoned by the government system they were…
Special to Toronto Sun Published:November 10, 2018 Updated:November 10, 2018 12:00 PM EST Numerous poppies have been left at the National War Memorial in this file photo. (Wayne Cuddington/ Ottawa Citizen) By Sean Bruyea and Robert Smol, Special to Postmedia Network All week long, Canadians have been putting a loonie or two in the poppy donation…
Opinion: The federal government is failing to truly deliver on its promises to veterans, and it’s doing so with less and less transparency by Sean Bruyea Nov 8, 2018 Veterans watch the Remembrance Day ceremony at Ottawa’s National War Memorial on Nov. 11, 2014. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) Sean Bruyea is a frequent commentator and author…
We should remember veterans’ sacrifices and finding ways to make those who survive whole again. Unfortunately, for many veterans and an increasing number of other Canadians, remembering injustice, inequity, and abusive bureaucratic practices has overshadowed honouring sacrifice. Remembrance Day is fast approaching, but improvement for disabled veterans has been a slow trickle of painfully inadequate…
by Sean Bruyea OCT. 22, 2018 THE HILL TIMES The upcoming Veterans Stakeholder Summit on Oct. 29 is the summit of bureaucratic insensitivity when it comes to accessibility. Our disabled veterans and their families deserve more. More voice, more consequential input, and more dignified treatment. Mounties, pictured April 9, 2017, at the Canadian National Vimy…
April 18, 2018 (Volume 25-01) By Sean Bruyea & Robert Smol-ESPRIT DE CORPS MAGAZINE Everything Veterans Wanted to Know About the Liberals’ Pension for Life Plan … And Should Not Be Afraid to Ask Changes to the Pension Act resulting from the New Veterans Charter led to a demand for a new benefits plan…
Opinion: The Liberals promised the first meaningful reintegration program for veterans in decades. Then, the bureaucrats got involved by Sean Bruyea Apr 5, 2018 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, greets veterans while visiting the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 128 in Sydney, N.S. on Thursday, November 10, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese Sean Bruyea is a frequent commentator and…
By SEAN BRUYEA-THE HILL TIMES-MAR. 26, 2018 The new benefit doesn’t come close to addressing what veterans asked for and families need. Having an all-or-nothing program that anticipates recognizing only those with a ‘disability assessment of 98 per cent or greater’ does not acknowledge immense sacrifices that families endure caring for those suffering significant disabilities. Veterans…
By SEAN BRUYEA-THE HILL TIMES- MAR. 19, 2018 Behind the scenes, the Trudeau Liberal government continues a longstanding war on veterans in minimizing or denying access to democracy and due process, writes Sean Bruyea. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured recently on Parliament Hill. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade OTTAWA—”Why are we still fighting certain veterans groups…
Published on: February 20, 2018 | Last Updated: February 20, 2018 11:56 AM EST Shadows from veterans are scene on the ground prior to the start of a ceremony honouring the National Battle of the Atlantic took place at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, May 3, 2015. CHRIS ROUSSAKIS / OTTAWA CITIZEN By Sean Bruyea Defence Watch…
CBC News Jan 02, 2018 5:00 AM ET by Sean Bruyea Not only does the pension option not pay any additional amounts for family members, the average monthly payment is expected to be around $200. Compare that to the pre-2006 pension that pays up to $2733 monthly, with an average of $680. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)…
The Globe and Mail December 17, 2017 by Sean Bruyea, vice-president of Canadians for Accountability and author, is a retired Air Force intelligence officer It is difficult to conceive of a more disheartening outcome for veterans, or greater victory for the federal government. The recent B.C. Court of Appeal ruling strikes down, in its entirety,…
The Hill Times- DEC. 11, 2017 By SEAN BRUYEA The ruling means bureaucrats can continue to write laws which Parliament is manipulated into passing that create an increasingly complex class and caste system of veterans forced to negotiate a labyrinth of bureaucratic injustices. Yes, it’s that bleak. …
Patronizing veterans is the salient problem, not the solution. Sadly, new Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan appears ready to reinforce, not resolve, the VAC cultural mess. Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan, pictured Aug. 28, 2017, at Rideau Hall in Ottawa shortly before he was sworn into cabinet. If the first public comments of newly appointed Veterans…
‘He was a gifted broadcaster and is therefore a gifted communicator, and that’s an asset for this government,’ says former PMO staffer Scott Reid. Liberal MP Seamus O’Regan at the ceremony on Aug. 28 in which he was sworn in as Veterans Affairs Minister. Veterans advocates hopes he does more for former military personnel than…
If O’Reagan and the Trudeau government truly wish ‘real change’ as they promised, then cultural change at Veterans Affairs must be their focus. Seamus O’Regan outside Rideau Hall on Aug. 28 just before getting sworn in as Veterans Affairs minister. Sean Bruyea says if O’Regan wants to have a positive impact, he must change the…
For veterans fighting for their compensation, it’s hard to watch the government hand over millions By Sean Bruyea, for CBC News Posted: Jul 15, 2017 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 15, 2017 5:00 AM ET Veterans’ reactions are being unfairly dismissed as little more than conservative barking. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) About The Author Sean Bruyea Sean Bruyea,…
by SeanBruyea Newspaper columnist, veterans and government accountability advocate, humanitarian, ethicist, former intelligence officer, husband, & father Posted: 05/01/2017 3:46 pm EDT Updated: 05/01/2017 3:47 pm EDT Canada’s military veterans are suffering another condition of late: envy. They watch National Defence Ombudsman Gary Walbourne, relentlessly petition government to improve the lives of soldiers. Veterans long for their Ombudsman, Guy Parent, to have the…
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals promised a return to lifelong pensions as their priority commitment to veterans. This should happen. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, pictured Nov. 11, 2015, at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright By SEAN BRUYEA PUBLISHED : THE HILL TIMES…
If there is a debt owed our veterans, and government fails to plan ahead, then government must incur fiscal debt to honour the moral debt to our veterans and their families. Justing Trudeau and the Liberals may well pay the price for Kent Hehr’s lackadaisical approach to leadership in Veterans Affairs, write Sean Bruyea. The Hill…
Veterans Affairs Canada bombards media to sell inadequate programs with paltry incremental changes. Meanwhile, veterans and their families continue to suffer. Veterans will be unlikely to question Walt Natynczyk’s inaction and excuses for not moving on policy issues universally agreed-upon more than a decade before, writes Sean Bruyea. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright By SEAN…
Ultimately, politicians and the public must force change. The removal of incompetent and inept leaders perpetuating a culture of persecution, impunity and intransigence is a start. Then, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promised openness and transparency can begin. Without transparency and openness, the military and Canada will fail to keep faith with those who have got…
The real question is whether PCO, Treasury Board, and, ultimately, the PMO are complicit in ramrodding inadequate and regressive measures upon veterans? Or are they merely negligent in perpetuating a system that rewards style over substance? Members of Canada’s Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry, pictured training in Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area on Sept. 8, 2016….
National leaders have refused a provincial request to disclose salaries and travel expenses. Sean Bruyea argues that rather than an organization for veterans, the legion exists more like a social club using veterans as props. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright By SEAN BRUYEA PUBLISHED : Wednesday, June 8, 2016 12:00 AM The national…
The Trudeau government is hosting a ‘stakeholder summit’ May 9 and 10. But having a former general and federal government representative chair a group of often marginalized individuals who are highly indoctrinated to be subservient to authority is truly a farce of a most un-Canadian kind. By SEAN BRUYEA PUBLISHED : Monday, May 9, 2016…
Secrecy reflexively defended with misinformation is the Veterans Affairs way of doing things over the past decade. Nothing has apparently changed under the new Liberal government. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letter emphasizes ‘inclusion, honesty, and generosity of spirit,’ but so far Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr’s, pictured right with Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett,…
This government has a chance to fix a small part of this and receive the praise of approximately 5,000 totally disabled and incapacitated veterans as well as thousands to follow. Incrementalism is demeaning for veterans who never hesitated to fulfill their obligation to Canada at a moment’s notice while in uniform. The 95 per cent…
Disenchanted and disabled veterans with their families have been enduring a decade of endless platitudes and rhetoric waiting for programs for which less than two per cent of them will qualify. DND photograph Veterans’ advocate Sean Bruyea writes, ‘Let’s stop lying to our veterans and their families. They deserve substantive and immediate action, not scripted…
by SEAN BRUYEA-DEFENCE WATCH October 18, 2015 Not since the 1920’s has a governing party so mismanaged the care of Canada’s veterans that all political parties would include veterans’ promises in their platforms. Prime Minister Harper appointed Erin O’Toole this past January to clean up the mess at Veterans Affairs (VAC) after the public relations…
In the first six months of 2015, which corresponded to O’Toole’s inaugural tenure, the Public Service Commission reports that he oversaw the priority hiring of zero medically released veterans. Since 2010, Veterans Affairs Canada has priority hired only six veterans, two of whom were hired by the Veterans’ Ombudsman. By SEAN BRUYEA The Hill Times Published:…
by Sean Bruyea ESPRIT DE CORPS-January 2015 MINISTER JULIAN FANTINO is the flypaper to which incompetent management and controversy persistently buzz around and stick. It is not clear why Harper keeps appointing this individual to various cabinet positions. What is abundantly clear: Julian Fantino is not capable of effectively managing the quagmire at Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC)….
By SEAN BRUYEA THE HILL TIMES Published: Monday, 12/01/2014 12:00 am EST We can be forgiven if we mistakenly believe that Christmas has finally arrived for Canadian veterans suffering psychological injuries. However, veterans will have to hold on to their Santa wish list for another 50 years. Ottawa’s mental health strategy looks more like a sleigh…
FAIR became a powerhouse of advocacy under the direction of David Hutton, who’s leaving the organization but not advocacy. Hutton’s leaving: Most frustrating for government were David Hutton’s thorough analyses of Canada’s disturbingly weak whistleblower laws and the frequent lame duck operations of the office entrusted to enforce them, the Integrity Commissioner’s Office, write Allan…