(Ottawa) Lawyers are trying to contact hundreds of thousands of people who are entitled to reimbursement as part of a class action against the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The lawsuit was filed after the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman discovered that the government had miscalculated its clients’ disability benefits and pensions beginning in 2003.
The government finally reached an out-of-court settlement in January, worth up to 817 million.
The problem was discovered by the ombudsman during a review of ministry documents after the government made changes to the disability benefit in 2016.
The ombudsman then realized that the Department of Veterans Affairs had not taken into account the provincial basic tax credit in calculating provincial income tax, but when the department realized of the error and subsequently corrected it, he neither informed nor reimbursed the people who had received less money.
At the time, the ombudsman estimated that about 270,000 veterans had been deprived of some $165 million, which he called an “accounting error.” The department committed to making corrective payments in 2018.
Michel Drapeau’s firm was among five law firms that ultimately filed the class action in 2019. The lawsuit also alleged that Veterans Affairs made other calculation errors, including failing to index benefits to inflation.
“When we looked at the situation, we found that there were actually many more benefits that had not been properly indexed over a longer period of time,” said Ms.e Flag.
He explained that the miscalculations actually lasted 21 years, from 2003 to 2023, meaning the number of eligible veterans was significantly higher than initially believed.
About 117,000 military veterans and former members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who have benefits or a payment relationship with Veterans Affairs will receive payments directly from the department by December.
An additional 215,000 eligible people have since died, and Me Drapeau said if survivors don’t file a claim, they won’t receive reimbursement. Eligible applicants may be surviving spouses, common-law partners, children, parents, siblings, nieces or nephews, or even the veteran’s estate.
“We are trying by all means possible to prevent them,” said M.e Flag. He specified that the lawyers had already launched a wanted notice on social networks, through advertising campaigns and by contacting the Royal Canadian Legion. In addition, a letter was sent by post to the last known addresses of approximately 200,000 people.
On average, reimbursements reach around $2,500. Under the out-of-court settlement, approved by the Federal Court, 40 people are eligible for payments greater than $35,000, but most reimbursements are less than $5,000.
Management and consultancy firm KPMG has been retained to help people file their claims, which can be made online. The federal government is responsible for the costs of administering the claims and KPMG does not receive funding from the settlement itself.
The deadline to file a claim is March 19, 2025.