BackSince Canada passed the Pension Act in 1919 – its first major legislation to support Veterans – every 20 years or so a review of Veterans’ benefits is conducted because Veterans’ needs change.
The Pension Act has been amended many times over its almost century of existence. The Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act, commonly known as the New Veterans Charter (NVC), came into being in 2006 because the Pension Act was not meeting the needs of younger Veterans and not supporting the principles of modern disability management.
The reality is both pieces of legislation produce undesirable outcomes resulting in inadequate support for Veterans and their families. There are a variety of reasons for this inadequacy. Years of delivering support in the same way can create almost insurmountable barriers to cultural change for service providers when change is required. These reasons have a common factor: the outcomes for Veterans have never been clearly defined.
Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent authored a text on the importance of keeping a laser-like focus on veterans’ outcomes, which was published in The Hill Times on Monday, 21 March 2016. The full article in English and French can be accessed on the website of the Veterans Ombudsman.
Source: Office of the Veterans Ombudsman, Canada
