OTTAWA, ON, OCTOBER 1st, 2014 – The Royal Canadian Legion is disappointed with the current government’s lack of progress regarding the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs (ACVA) Report entitled: “The New Veterans Charter: Moving Forward6” which was distributed in June 2014.
“ACVA made 14 recommendations in their report and the Legion was expecting to see real action to address problem areas within the New Veterans Charter,” says Dominion President of The Royal Canadian Legion, Tom Eagles. Particularly there are three major shortcomings with the New Veterans Charter which the Legion presented to the Committee and these include:
- The Earning Loss Benefit (ELB) must be improved to provide 100% of pre-release income, continue for life and include increases for projected career earnings for a Canadian Armed Forces member;
- The maximum disability award must be increased consistent with what is provided to injured civilian workers who received general damages in law court; and
- The current inequity with regards to ELB for Class A and Class B (less than 180 days) Reservists for service attributed injuries must cease.
“While we appreciate that these issues are complex and require considerable time, effort and financial resources to implement, it is the belief of the Legion that the government has had more than enough time, and certainly enough input from subject experts, to be able to take solid action on improving the NVC,” says Eagles. “We remain committed to the ACVA recommendations and will not cease our efforts to push this government to come up with some tangible activities,” adds Eagles.
“The lives of these Veterans and their families’ cannot become an election or budget issue. Once again, we repeat our request to the government to act now and commit the necessary resources both legislative and financial to ensure the welfare of our Veterans and their families. They cannot wait any longer!” adds Eagles.
The Legion’s presentation to ACVA can be found here: Legion Briefs Members of Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs (ACVA)7
The link to the subject the ACVA report is as follows: The New Veterans Charter: Moving Forward8
For further information please contact Bruce Poulin at Dominion Command, at (613) 591-3335 ext. 241 or by cell at (613) 292-8760 or bruce.poulin@legion.ca9 .