The Legion urges the federal government to intensify its actions to support Canada’s Veterans. Read the Legion’s latest responses to the condo development at Juno Beach and the backlog in disability claims with Veterans Affairs Canada.
Legion urges the federal government to accelerate change
OTTAWA, ON, 5 May 2022 – The Royal Canadian Legion urges the federal government to intensify its actions after the latest update from Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) to our country’s Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs.
In a presentation this week, VAC’s Minister, the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay acknowledged that more work needs to be done in several areas that are central to our Veterans’ well-being, however no detailed action plans or concrete timelines were presented by the department.
The Legion was asked by media for its responses to VAC’s update on the condo development planned at Juno Beach in France, and the ongoing disability claims backlog – which we understand is two years long. Dominion President Bruce Julian shared the following thoughts.
Juno Beach condo development
“The Legion was pleased to hear the Minister confirm that all factions related to this situation in France will be working on a resolution. However, we believe the Government of Canada must play a key role in any mediation that might occur, including suggesting alternate locations for the housing, and even the possibility of purchasing the land that is a fundamental part of our nation’s military history and arguably represents a central reason why our country remains free.”
Backlog in disability application processing
“While all progress should be celebrated, we still have close to 11,000 veterans waiting for help while their health situation continues to deteriorate. This reality remains untenable. We did not hear any discussion about tangible plans or specific timelines to finally put an end to this situation. It is unfair to leave those who served our country in a position whereby they must seek piecemeal care while waiting in an endless lineup with an unreliable wait time tool, to receive the full complement of benefits to which they are entitled.”
Other topics raised by Subcommittee Senators included Veteran homelessness, the ability of Veterans to find employment after service, the case load for case managers, and the degree of satisfaction expressed by Veterans about service provision.
The Legion is equally interested in these important issues. While we appreciate the work underway and the positive initiatives developed by VAC to date, the pace of change is still too slow to meet the current needs of our Veterans.
For more about the Legion’s support work: https://www.legion.ca/support-for-veterans
For the subcommittee discussion: https://senparlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20220504/-1/10802
About The Royal Canadian Legion
Founded in 1925, the Legion is Canada’s largest Veteran support and community service organization. We are a non-profit organization with a national reach across Canada as well as branches in the U.S. and Europe. With 250,000 members, many of whom volunteer an extraordinary amount of time to their branches, our strength is in our numbers.
Public Relations / Media Inquiries: PublicRelations@Legion.ca / 343-540-7604 - Nujma Bond
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