A former soldier from Edmonton was in Vancouver B.C. on Wednesday for the first hearing in B.C. Supreme Court of proposed changes to the Veterans Charter.
Mark Campbell is one of six plaintiffs suing the federal government over changes to the benefits awarded to veterans when they return home from fighting overseas. Campbell said the changes mean anyone wounded after the charter became law in 2006 will receive significantly less from the federal government than they did before.
“We have found out post-injury, that the so-called New Veterans Charter, that was passed in 2006 in the middle of the war, has reduced our disability compensation by between 40 and 95 per cent with no consultation and without even informing us of the change in the middle of the war,” said Campbell on Tuesday.
“So those of us who fought the war, including myself, who went back a second time, under a completely different disability compensation program, and had no idea that our compensation plan had been reduced back to nothing more than an inadequate insurance program, that dates back to the 70’s, and has never changed.”
Campbell lost both his legs in Afghanistan in 2008 following an ambush by Taliban fighters.
“What we’re looking for is certification of the fact that we are an identifiable, certifiable class of Canadian,” said Campbell. “And we are, we’re the only class of Canadian, talking about disabled soldiers and veterans, we’re the only class of Canadians who are guaranteed to have a lower income and a lower family standard of living as a direct result of suffering a workplace injury, let alone a catastrophic disability in the service of our nation overseas.”
“It’s an abject betrayal by the government of Canada and that’s all there is to it.”
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