(Ottawa) The Veterans Ombudsman says many sick and injured ex-soldiers and their families are fighting needlessly for access to federal supports and services because the government refuses to act on a growing number of recommendations from her office.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Nishika Jardine indicated that the mandate of her office is to identify systemic barriers and injustices in the way veterans are treated, and to come up with solutions on how these problems can. be resolved.
Yet the retired army colonel said the government had acted on a declining number of “thoughtful” recommendations from her office in recent years, to the detriment of disabled veterans and their families.
“It is clear that over the past four years, the government has fallen behind in the work needed to address the inequalities that we have highlighted,” said Mr.me Jardine, who took office as ombudsman in November 2020.
Problems identified by his office since 2017 include long waits for veterans to find out if they qualify for disability benefits and assistance. These waits were particularly long for the women and Francophones who were injured in uniform.
Mme Jardine also drew attention in June to what she claims is the unfair treatment of family members of veterans, who are unable to access mental health services unless it is part of the plan. treatment of the veteran.
When a veteran or military member serves, or even a member of the RCMP, their families have served as well and it has an impact on their mental health. The mental health of families, some of these stories are heartbreaking.
Nishika Jardine, Veterans Ombudsman
The office of Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay said the government had accepted many of the mediator’s recommendations, including her request in June that Veterans Affairs Canada fund peer support programs for victims of military sexual misconduct.
“We also implemented recommendations that improved mental health supports for veterans and their families, improved compensation for ill and injured veterans, and launched a veteran ID card.” spokesperson Cameron McNeill wrote in an email.
“We will continue to work with the Ombudsperson and her office to improve the services and support we provide to our Veterans and their families, including further reducing processing times for Veterans, which is a top priority. that she and the minister share. ”
Mme Jardine, who is the first woman to hold the post and who changes the name of the office from “ombudsperson” to “ombud”, is not the first to express her frustration at what she sees as the nonchalant response. government to office concerns.
The predecessor of Mme Jardine, Craig Dalton, resigned in May 2020 after just 18 months.
Yet a report published by Mme Jardine at the end of last month mentioned that the trend has increased in recent years as fewer and fewer recommendations are being implemented.
The government implemented only six of the 26 still relevant recommendations made between April 2017 and March 2021.
These 26 recommendations aimed to provide mental health support to family members as well as more equitable access to financial assistance and compensation for all veterans with disabilities, and to ensure that veterans do not don’t wait months and years for help.
The report says these wait times accounted for 43% of all complaints received by the office, making it the number one issue raised by veterans. This is despite the fact that the government has hired hundreds of temporary workers to process a backlog of over 40,000 applications.
The annual report did not include the government’s decision to implement peer support for sexual misconduct, which will be covered in next year’s iteration.
Mme Jardine, who previously told The Canadian Press that she had endured the same long and frustrating wait for her own request during which she was unable to access physiotherapy for injuries sustained while donning the uniform, said the issue remains a major concern for her.
It all depends on getting that decision on your disability claim so that you can recover so you can get back into your civilian life and move on to a new job. It is a struggle for many veterans and my hearts go out to them and their families.
Nishika Jardine, Veterans Ombudsman
The Canadian Press last month described in a series of articles some of the challenges facing veterans today, including the backlog of applications that causes a long wait for federal aid.