Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/407740
V VETERANS www.vanguardcanada.com OCTOBER/nOVEMBER 2014 23 The transition is where it should start. Vet- erans transition with their families, they don't transition alone. There is no provision or remuneration for a spouse who is look- ing after an injured member and sacrifi cing their own income, their career; whereas if someone was to come in and look after the veteran, then the person would be paid. And if a spouse does take care of someone with PTSD, there is absolutely no training. Those are important things. Also, the demographics have changed. We have young veterans of Afghanistan in- jured who are in their 20s, and their family is still their parents. But within the current context, parents of a veteran are not con- sidered family. Instead of the spouse, it's the parents taking care of the injured vet- eran and yet there is no compensation for that whatsoever. And, again, there is no provision for training. Likewise with ben- efi ts, if a young soldier gets killed at 19 just after joining the Forces, his parents don't receive anything other than the insurance that is paid to his benefi ciary. That is why it is important for Gary Wal- bourne, the Canadian Forces Ombuds- man, and I to work together to make sure that the family transitions with the veteran. Q Your predecessor, Col (Ret'd) Pat Stogran has said that Afghanistan "will defi ne the Canadian Forces for the next generation" and "how we treat the veterans will defi ne the country." Given that we are still seeing veterans coming forward from previous campaigns, do you feel the same? A lot of people talk about a surge but I'm not sure we will have one, at least not any different then after other confl icts, be- cause National Defence has done some great work in preparing for psychologi- cal injuries, much better then they did for Bosnia. Now there are councillors in the fi eld; they have pre-deployment sessions. The culture has changed a bit. However, if there is a surge, what will be important is VAC's ability to deal with it. What concerns me is people hiding their injuries so they don't lose their job or career progression channels. Univer- sality of services doesn't allow you to stay in the forces unless you are deploy- able. Q You are beginning your fi h year as the Veterans Ombudsman. Are there fi nal tasks you would like to accomplish? One of the complexities is the fact that there is so much legislation geared toward veterans that has not been harmonized. So looking forward to my last year, that is what I would like to see, some sort of merger of the legislation, to take the best of the Pen- sion Act and bring it into the NVC so that eventually there is a charter for veterans. I think that would simplify things quite a bit from what we have now. And I'd like to see a delivery process based on audit rather than adjudication that puts trust in the vet- erans and their families. D I S C O V E R T H E L O N D O N A D V A N T A G E A T W W W . L E D C . C O M Kongsberg Protech Systems Canada is a world leader in remote weapon systems manufacturing focused on military protection and survivability. "In London, we have access to highly trained people with strong expertise in the defence sector," Jørn Buø, President. When Canada's military needs to improve soldier safety, they come to London, Canada. Register for the "Best Defence Conference" • November 13, 2014 • London, Canada When Canada's military needs to improve soldier safety, When Canada's military needs to improve soldier safety, Jørn Buø, President, KONGSBERG PROTECH SYSTEMS