Don’t leave vets in limbo
OUR EDITORIAL: WHAT WE THINK Former military members deserve timely benefits
Veterans who suffered injuries or psychological trauma during the course of their military service have enough to deal with. The last thing they need is to be kept waiting to receive disability benefits — or to even find out if they qualify for those benefits. But that’s exactly what is happening to many of them.
Veterans Affairs Canada says that, as of the end of November, there were about 29,000 applications for disability benefits still waiting to be processed. That marks an increase of nearly 50 per cent since the end of March.
For close to one-third of those applicants, the wait has been more than 16 weeks to date. That’s also an increase since the spring, a discouraging indication that the wait times are only growing longer.
Not surprisingly, news of the size of the backlog is prompting concerns. Scott Maxwell, executive director of Wounded Warriors Canada, an organization which works to support ill and injured Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans, first responders and their families, said in a Canadian Press story in Monday’s Herald, “It’s so important for people in transitioning to civilian life and can impact a whole bunch of factors, including the ability to pay your bills. In some cases, it can mean the difference between being a homeless veteran and not.”
Unfortunately, delays in receiving benefits is not a new problem for veterans. As the CP story noted, veterans’ advocates have long been critical of the wait some injured former soldiers face just to find out if they qualify for assistance. And federal auditor general Michael Ferguson has previously raised the issue of delays in processing applications of veterans dealing with psychological trauma.
The federal government is promising to take action. Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan acknowledged his department needs to do a better job and said hundreds more staff members are being hired to speed up the processing of applications.
But, as former NDP MP Peter Stoffer, a longtime veterans’ advocate, noted, such promises have been made before.
“All 13 ministers since ’97 have said the exact same thing: ‘We have to do a better job, we’re speeding up the process.’ And it’s getting worse, to be honest with you,” Stoffer told the Canadian Press.
The cause of the expanding backlog isn’t clear, but what is clear is that the problem needs to be fixed. The system might see these veterans as names and file numbers, but these are fleshand-blood people whose lives are being adversely affected by a system that is failing them.
We’re just a month removed from honouring veterans and military members during Remembrance Day. Now it’s time to honour them in a practical way by ensuring they receive the benefits they deserve in a timely fashion.
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