Prime Minister Stephen Harper is responding to Global National‘s exclusive report on some injured Canadian soldiers who are filing a class-action lawsuit against the federal government over veterans’ services and benefits.
Harper is defending Ottawa’s treatment of disabled vets. He said at a news conference Friday in Edmundston, New Brunswick, “The prime minister never comments on lawsuits or on matters before the court,” but added “I will just say that our government has enhanced veterans’ benefits to a level that we’ve never seen before in this country.”
Pte. Brandon Smith disagrees. Since returning from Afghanistan, the 25-year-old admits his mind is a mess.
“At first, I’d go grab my bayonet and I’d be expecting someone to come and break into my house, or I felt like I was protecting my family. Then, it would turn into ‘Whoa, if they have a gun or a knife, I’d better go get my Kevlar – I’d better wear a vest,” Smith said to Global National‘s Ross Lord.
“And I’d end up staying up all night, pacing the house.”
His troubles didn’t end there. Alcoholism and even suicide attempts followed. They were classic symptoms of his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his seven-month tour back in 2008.
Smith, who lives in Halifax, was released from the Canadian Forces last year. “When I first got out, it was almost like I was just dumped out on the street. So all the same doctors, all the same therapists, the people I was seeing, they were out of the picture. My case worker was out of the picture.”
Under the New Veterans Charter released in 2006, he was paid a lump sum of $140,000. What Smith didn’t spend on booze, he used to pay off credit cards and buy a new house for his wife and two young children, before PTSD destroyed their marriage.
“She’s still living in the house today. And I’m living on an air-mattress in a friend’s basement, with nothing. So that’s what happened to my lump sum.”
The Equitas Society, a support group for veterans headed by Vancouver police officer Jim Scott, says stories like Smith’s are becoming more common. A rising number of injured soldiers say their disability benefits are lower with the New Veterans Charter than the previous program.
“The New Veterans Charter has reduced the benefits to disabled soldiers by one-third for severely disabled soldiers, and to up to 90 per cent for partially disabled soldiers,” Scott says, whose son was badly injured in Afghanistan.
Smith says, “I think it’s way worse than the old system. I wish I had something that I could rely on day in and day out for the rest of my life.”
“The lump sum’s gone. I did what I could with it, for myself and my family, but at the end of the day, what do I have?… (It’s) completely gone. I don’t have anything.”
“I’ve had so many of my friends that have had money thrown at them and have committed suicide and blown the money gambling, liquor, whatever.”
Smith wants to get his life together. “I just to get up on my feet and be there for my kids.”
Equitas also says disabled veterans are receiving less than what civilians get under workers’ compensation programs, a key argument in the upcoming class-action lawsuit being launched by the organization.
But with the government insisting the system works, it seems the battle lines are drawn, as increasingly agitated Canadian veterans question whether Ottawa has their backs.
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With files from Global National’s Ross Lord
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