CANADIAN LEGION BERATES PARTIES FOR USING VETS TO SCORE VOTES
The way Ontario politicians are treating veterans and their causes in this provincial election campaign is “abhorrent,” the Royal Canadian Legion’s national director says.
“Recent opinion columns, media reports and politicking have prompted us to say ‘enough is enough’,” Brad White wrote in a letter to this newspaper. “It is deplorable to see veterans being used as political pawns at election time.”
Veterans need real help the provincial government could give them, he said. This isn’t it.
The Progressive Conservatives have repeatedly condemned a New Democratic Party candidate in Mississauga who blogged four years ago that she’d rather wear a peace button than a poppy on Remembrance Day. Another wrote about putting a poppy in bleach to turn it white, part of a campaign to promote pacifism.
In response, the Tories improvised a promise to exempt Legion halls from municipal property taxes. Since May 20, they’ve put out 13 news releases criticizing the NDP and its candidates as disrespectful of veterans.
The Legion strives to be nonpartisan in helping veterans of the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, White said. It’s kept quiet while its name and the poppies it distributes for donations have been drawn into Ontario’s election campaign. No more.
White served in the Canadian Forces for 23 years and retired as a lieutenant-colonel before joining the staff at the Legion in 1998.
“Regardless of whether you’re red or blue or orange, I really believe that when you look down at the bottom line of it all, instead of throwing all these barbs at each other, you have to take care of people who’ve sacrificed for their country,” he said.
The poppy honours men and women who died for the right to think and speak freely, White said, but no veteran who wears a poppy wants to see Canadian troops in danger again. Perhaps the meaning of the poppy has been abused from time to time, but the poppy itself isn’t at fault, he said.
“People can wear whatever poppy they want to. But don’t slam the Royal Canadian Legion and the poppy as a glorification of war,” White said.
At the same time, the Legion hall tax break the Progressive Conservatives promise won’t help veterans much, he said. Most municipalities — including Toronto, Ottawa, Sudbury, Windsor and Hamilton — exempt Legion halls from property taxes already.
And veterans need a lot more help than they get. Especially in the transition from military to civilian life, and most especially if they leave the military with injuries, White said.
“I got out of the military and I had to look for a doctor. That was a new event in my life,” White said.
Living in a big city with a relative abundance of services is one thing. Most military men and women aren’t stationed in big cities.
“I lived in Petawawa for many years,” White said. “Somebody gets out of the military in Petawawa, they don’t always have the services they need to adjust, particularly if they have mentalhealth issues.”
Veterans are sometimes prescribed medicinal marijuana for lingering psychological traumas from their service, he said, even though there’s practically no hard science behind it.
“There’s all sorts of people talking about how many grams of marijuana are required on a daily basis to help with their symptoms,” he said. The research on this is poor and doctors need guidelines. “Right now it’s being handled on a case-by-case basis.”
Ontario’s rules for service animals are fragmented. A Blind Persons’ Rights Act guarantees that visually impaired people can bring guide dogs (they have to be dogs) with them wherever they go. Service dogs that do other physical tasks for people have some protection under the Access for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
Support animals for people with psychological injuries have very little coverage at all. Legally, they’re basically pets.
“A properly trained service animal, I’ve seen a lot of them at work — they’re not pleasure animals, they’re working animals,” White said. Veterans would be well served if there were standards for their training and guarantees that certified animals could accompany their owners.
None of the parties’ promise books takes up any of these ideas.
“I guess there’s a big word out there called ‘respect.’ It’s hard to walk — someone who has served and is injured, it’s hard to walk in their shoes. For people to make statements and use people who have been injured, I think the word is ‘abhorrent.’ Don’t play politics on the backs of veterans,” White said.
For people to make statements and use people who have been injured, I think the word is ‘abhorrent.’