Injured, ill veterans struggling needlessly as feds ignore recommendations, ombud says
Global News
The problems identified by the watchdog's office since 2017 include long wait times for veterans to find out whether they qualify for disability benefits and assistance.
The veterans’ ombud says many ill and injured ex-soldiers and their families are needlessly fighting for access to federal support and services because the government is refusing to act on a growing number of recommendations from her office.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Nishika Jardine noted her office’s mandate is to identify systemic barriers and unfairness in how veterans are treated, and put forward solutions on how those problems can be fixed.
Yet the retired army colonel says the government has acted on a shrinking number of the watchdog’s “well-considered” recommendations in recent years, to the detriment of disabled veterans and their loved ones.
“It’s crystal clear that over the past four years, the government is falling behind in doing the work that’s required to address the inequities that we’ve highlighted,” said Jardine, who took over her current position in November 2020.
The problems identified by the watchdog’s office since 2017 include long wait times for veterans to find out whether they qualify for disability benefits and assistance. Those waits have been especially long for women and francophones injured while in uniform.
Jardine also called attention in June to what she says is the unfair treatment of veterans’ family members, who are unable to access mental-health services unless doing so is part and parcel of the veteran’s own treatment plan.
“When a veteran serves or a military member serves, or even an RCMP member serves, their families also served and there’s an impact on their mental health,” she said. “The mental health of the families, some of those stories are heartbreaking.”
Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay’s office said the government has accepted many of the watchdog’s recommendations, including her request in June that Veterans Affairs fund peer-support programs for victims of military sexual misconduct.
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