14 janvier, 2007 15:41

Veterans Class action Suit ( Canadian Story )

After serving this country in the military during no less than three separate periods (one of which saw the historic introduction of martial law during the FLQ crisis), this Canadian finds it more than just mildly disturbing that successive governments continue to show a callous disregard to their obligations towards Canadian veterans. To compound this atrocity, the current/previous governments are/have been completely void of any ethical and moral standard by disregarding the peacetime casualties (i.e., loss of my family, my home and all of my belongings) such flippant behaviour, on their part, has instigated. Perhaps the following facts and details that surround them will better focus the Canadian electorate on the lack of leadership that we have been burdened with over the past 17+ years.

A genuine ‘purpose’ for the Canadian military was instilled in this veteran from initial enrolment (just prior to the Laporte/Lacrosse incident) and the mobilization of the Canadian military within its own borders. Over the next 24 years, the integrity of such a genuine ‘purpose’ deteriorated into a contempt founded upon the contradiction and deception of our armed force members by our governments. The true extent and rate of this deterioration has become even more evident in recent years as our Canadian governments twist and turn within our legal system in trying to ‘extract’ themselves from their mandated responsibility to Canadian veterans. The details of my personal history are provided only as an example of this government deception and will hopefully act as a siren to the Canadian populace. Glean from this what you wish!

During my last period of service in the Canadian military, I trained as a Combat Systems Engineer (CSE) first on the west coast, sailing with the HMCS Qu’Appelle, and then on the east coast where I resigned my officer’s commission. While billeted to the HMCS Qu’Appelle, and during that period of training, I slipped in the shower onboard the HMCS Qu’Appelle while away from my home port of Esquimalt. The officers and NCMs at that time, responded to my back (and spinal cord) injuries by leaving me in my rack for the following four days until we returned to Esquimalt and I could be transported by ambulance to the base hospital for medical care and attention. This same quality of ‘care and attention’ resulted in my being discharged from the base hospital less than three weeks from my admittance to that ‘facility’ so that I could arrange for the sale of my property and the relocation of my family from Victoria, BC to Lower Sackville, NS.

Subsequent to leaving the military, some four years after the above-listed event, I obtained medical evaluation by a respected physician who diagnosed me as having a C5/C6 radiculopathy which, with the lack of other etiological factors in my medical history, was evidently caused by my fall in the HMCS Qu’Appelle shower. In applying for a disability pension, the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) section of Veterans Affairs refused to demonstrate any responsibility towards this veteran by making a connection between the C5/C6 radiculopathy and the incident in the HMCS Qu’Appelle shower. The VRAB’s stubborn void of compassion and responsibility, forced the first hearing and ruling by the Federal Court of Canada in 1998/1999. Representing myself, I provided that Hon. Court with the facts which resulted in a ruling against the VRAB forcing them to do no more than re-consider their previous lack of reasoning and essentially build other excuses for not awarding this veteran a pension.

Over the next 7 years, in spite of submissions from both graduates and post-graduates in medicine endorsing my claim, the VRAB continued to disregard their responsibility to this veteran and forced 3 more rulings by the Federal Court of Canada (2 of which, including the latest in Oct. ’05, were again in my favour). With the aforementioned greater burden of evidence in my favour, the VRAB continued to delay and irresponsibly postpone fair and just rulings on my claim, thereby perpetuating the government MO of our day. This MO, when it comes to veterans (and also, all too often, other Canadian citizens), has been to delay and do nothing long enough so that ‘natural causes’ will result in the death of applicants for such pensions, thereby removing the government’s responsibility in these cases?

Even more sublime than these observations are the contradictions between what our politicians promise us as part of their campaigns and what we receive in the very end. The vast gaps between what was promised and what we receive are hoped to have fled our memories by the time the next election comes (i.e., following their MO of ‘doing nothing long enough, for us to forget or die of ‘natural’ causes, and maybe the ‘problem’ will go away’). But look at the image that these governments are creating at home as well as abroad by this blatant ignorance of their mandates (and other promises) to the Canadian veterans and the electorate at large! Such ‘token’ image, which changes quicker than the speed and directions of the wind, brings nothing to the doctrines of honesty and integrity in which Canadian military officers are trained.

These same ‘flighty’ changes force all Canadian citizens to succumb to attitudes of indifference which rob these same citizens of a substantial quality (if not simultaneous quantity) in their lives. While Canadian veterans are retired members of the military and/or RCMP who, at all times during their careers, were expected to lay their lives on the line in protection of our country and our rights, where is the recognition of this commitment when it comes time for our government to repay/recognize its commitment to its veterans? Or are we just dwelling too long on our governments’ MOs of doing nothing long enough so that they deduce that the ‘problems’ will die of natural causes thereby relieving the government of responsibility?

B. C. Bradley

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P.S. Having encountered various specimens (e.g., drug and dope pushers who prey on others’ misfortunes and weaknesses) in my travels, I once believed that it would not be possible to get any lower when it comes to service to mankind. After reading the above, is it not evident that our governments have consistently and perpetually sunk to even lower levels? To view current rates of success for veterans taking on the VRAB in the Federal Court of Canada and its Appeals DIvision