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 ‘Veterans Ombudsman’ Category
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…
By SEAN BRUYEA SEP. 17, 2018 The Hill Times New veterans’ photo ID cards are not official government identification and they should be. Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan, pictured in this file photo in Ottawa. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade OTTAWA—Process is as important as product. When the product is destined for a group of…
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…
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…
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:…
We need to hear much less about those veterans who don’t need our help and focus upon fixing the system comprehensively for those disabled veterans and their families who desperately need our help. A barrage of propaganda will fail to make the disabled veterans’ lives better. By SEAN BRUYEA THE HILL TIMES, Published: Monday, 09/22/2014 12:00…
By SEAN BRUYEA-THE HILL TIMES- Published: Monday, 06/16/2014 12:00 am EDT Prime Minister Stephen Harper has expressed his admiration for America. Explosive scandals in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the rapid response provide a powerful teachable moment for the PM and the “hero” of Canada’s own veteran scandals, Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino. Although longstanding, wait…
The government had better start fighting for veterans soon or Canadians will stop fighting for government. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright Veterans pictured last week protesting on the Hill. Sean Bruyea says veterans have every reason to be disillusioned with Ottawa over the New Veterans Charter. By SEAN BRUYEA– THE HILL TIMES Published:…
The government is clearly not holding up its end of the bargain on veterans. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright Veterans pictured last year in Ottawa on Remembrance Day. Sean Bruyea says MPs have never debated or given serious independent and binding consideration of the dramatic changes that the NVC made to the relationship…
Opening Remarks: Sean Bruyea ACVA April 9 2014 Thank you most sincerely for your invitation to speak today. Nine years ago Parliament passed the legislation we now know as the new veterans charter or NVC. The Elected Members of the House of Commons never debated any of its clauses. They have yet to give serious…
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…
Minister Fantino last week in the Hill Times, chose to write a rebuttal to my article on How Veterans Shoot Themselves in the Foot While Government Hits Them over the Head. The Minister’s usual political rhetoric shines through absent any real action on improving the quality of life of veterans and their families. This week, Don Leonardo crafted a…
There is little doubt as to the good intentions of most veterans’ organizations in providing quotes to government. However, government has clearly been quite astute at using veterans’ good intentions to further a PR war that does little but says much about caring for veterans. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright Media relations teams…
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…
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…
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 with a one-time…
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 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 government. The Veterans…
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 injured veteran,…
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 Bruyea’s privacy…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Mark Iype, Postmedia News. Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010 OTTAWA — Facing criticism it has been shortchanging soldiers hurt in the line of duty, the federal government on Sunday unveiled what it says will be the first in a series of steps aimed at looking after Canada’s new generation of war veterans. The Conservatives plan to…
‘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.
Friday August 27, 2010 By Richard Mostyn-Yukon News The line of veterans sitting before Stephen Harper on Thursday were conspicuous. Were they aware about how cleverly they were being used? This week, Harper has been flying around small communities in the North – Resolute Bay, Tuktoyaktuk, Inuvik, Cambridge Bay and Churchill. Whitehorse represented his first…
by Sean Bruyea-The Toronto Star-August 26, 2010 The indisputable lightning rod for the cumulative frustration of disabled Canadian Forces veterans and their families has become the replacement of the lifetime monthly pension for military injuries with a one-time lump-sum payment. Among the rapidly growing population of more than 680,000 serving and veteran Canadian Forces personnel,…
By: Sean Bruyea- Winnipeg Free Press- Posted: 24/08/2010 1:00 AM This past week was a difficult and emotional one for disabled veterans and their families. The outgoing Veterans Ombudsman, Pat Stogran, held what will hopefully be the first of many press conferences highlighting the shortfalls with which the Canadian bureaucracy treats (and mistreats) its men…
CBC AS IT HAPPENS-August 18, 2010 Duration: 00:08:12 One Canadian war veteran put it this way: “When we need it most… we’re kind of hung out to dry and left on our own.” He and other veterans gathered at a news conference yesterday to voice their disappointment that their ombudsman was losing his job. Last night…