Canadian soldiers evacuate injured personnel after their armored vehicle was struck by an oncoming vehicle outside of Kandahar City. The March 31, 2006, incident wounded two Canadian soldiers. (Robin Mugridge/Combat Camera/Canadian Forces)

Lump sum payments save Government and penalize veterans who risk their lives for what?

With story from Charlottetown Guardian

The Canadian Government has perpetrated a fraud on disabled Canadian Forces soldiers called New Veterans Charter, as of April 1, 2006. Instead of the disability pension benefit that provided for their needs on a monthly basis for life, they now receive a lump sum benefit $260,843.84.

It amazes me how politicians like our Prime Minister Stephen Harper can pontificate with solemn patriotism about the need for men and women to fight in Afghanistan while scrimping on their needs when they come back home with disabilities.

$260K will not provide a lifetime of income replacement for a young person in their 20’s or 30’s. Even if the amount was invested with the greatest wisdom and care, it is totally inadequate. It will not provide additional medical care, rehabilitation, home care and assistive devices should their disability get worse.

Senator Percy Downe is quoted in the Charlottetown Guardian expressing his concerns over the New Veterans Charter.

Senators Colin Kenny, left, and Percy Downe lay a wreath at the cenotaph in Charlottetown. Kenny is the chair of the national security and defense committee and Downe is a member of the standing committees on foreign affairs and internal economy. Guardian photo by Brian McInnis

“That is potentially a lot of money for what in many cases will be young men to manage, notes Downe, who sits on the subcommittee of Veterans Affairs.

“Some people will take the financial counselling and manage it well,’’ he said.

“Others, if the money is spent, if the money is wasted because of other problems — addiction problems related to their war injury or mental health issues — what resources are available after the fact if (money management) mistakes are made.’’ Charlottetown Guardian

By way of comparison, awards for auto accidents that cause paralysis, paraplegia or quadriplegia can range from lump sum payments of $500,000 to more than a million dollars.

Even then there is no one to protect the victim from their own lack of foresight. I have met many paraplegics who didn’t get their money invested in an annuity and were broke 10 years later.

For veterans, this is a role the Government took on when it asked these young people to put themselves in harms way. If they become disabled they should not have to worry about money. They need help to get their lives back to the greatest extent possible.

During the rehabilitation period and before they re-enter the workforce, injured veterans can receive month allowances; however, the program is geared to getting the veteran off the allowance and out the door.

The lump sum payment discharges the government’s responsibility to the veteran but it leaves the disabled veteran headed for poverty if they cannot work.

Along with being not enough money, the disabled veteran is in many cases not ready to be a money manager. For a disabled veteran dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome or disability adjustment emotional problems, careful management of money is not on the radar screen.

It amazes me how politicians like our Prime Minister Stephen Harper can pontificate with solemn patriotism about the need for men and women to fight in Afghanistan while scrimping on their needs when they come back home with disabilities.