Legion states Government's response to ACVA Recommendation is lacking substance

OTTAWA, Feb. 2, 2015 /CNW/ - The Royal Canadian Legion is frustrated with the current government's lack of progress regarding the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs (ACVA) Report entitled: "The New Veterans Charter: Moving Forward" which was distributed in June 2014. The announcement on Friday night does nothing substantial in addressing the recommendations and again pushes the timelines far to the right.

"ACVA made 14 recommendations in their report and the Legion was expecting to see real action to address problem areas within the New Veterans Charter," says Dominion President of The Royal Canadian Legion, Tom Eagles.   Specifically, there are three major shortcomings with the New Veterans Charter which the Legion presented to the Committee and these include:

• The Earning Loss Benefit (ELB) must be improved to provide 100% of pre-release income, continue for life and include increases for projected career earnings for a Canadian Armed Forces member;
• The maximum disability award must be increased consistent with what is provided to injured civilian workers who received general damages in law court; and
• The current inequity with regards to ELB for Class A and Class B (less than 180 days) Reservists for service attributed injuries must cease.

"While we appreciate that these issues are complex and require considerable time, effort and financial resources to implement, it is the belief of the Legion that the government has had plenty of time to consider these issues but does not have the willingness to implement the significant changes necessary to look after our Veterans, " says Eagles.   "We remain committed to the ACVA recommendations and will not cease our efforts to push this government to come up with some tangible progress now," adds Eagles. 

These efforts include:

• Continue to meet with Government agencies to find solutions to assist our Veterans;
• The Legion will host a meeting of the Veterans Consultation Assembly with the aim of providing rationale, coordinated and focused advocacy on these outstanding issues;
• Continue to communicate with our more than 300,000 Legion members and the greater Canadian public to ensure they are aware of the needs of our Veterans, and our expectations from government.

"Dialogue with Government and Canadians is essential. Once again, we repeat our call to the government to act now and commit the necessary resources both legislative and financial to ensure the welfare of our Veterans and their families.  They cannot wait any longer and time is running out!" adds Eagles.

The Legion's presentation to ACVA can be found here:

http://www.legion.ca/article/legion-briefs-members-of-standing-committee-on-veterans-affairs-acva/

The link to the subject the ACVA report is as follows:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=6635229&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=2

SOURCE The Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command

Bruce Poulin at Dominion Command, at [phone] ext. 241 or by cell at [phone] or [email protected]