'You ain't seen nothing yet': Stogran

Published on August 20th, 2010
By Dave Stewart, The Charlottetown Guardian

"You ain't seen nothing yet.''

Those were the words from retired colonel Pat Stogran on Thursday, refusing to back down from his emotional appeal in front of the national media earlier this week.

Stogran is in Charlottetown this week, promising to do his best as the ombudsman for Veterans Affairs Canada to see that veterans are treated better than they have been

In an interview with The Guardian Thursday afternoon, Stogran vowed to step up the tempo and the rhetoric that has been making headlines across the country since the federal government told him more than a week ago his three-year contract was not going to be renewed after it runs out in three months.

Stogran said he doesn't have a problem with individuals at the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Charlottetown. It's the system and the bureaucracy he has a problem with.

"It's the long-standing practices, the failure of things to move up the chain, the insensitivity at the highest levels and I'm not talking about the elected officials, I'm talking about the central agencies, the senior bureaucrats,'' Stogran said. "The rank and file are very proud of the work they do and they're a little upset that I would be talking so harshly about them.''

P.E.I. Senator Percy Downe said Thursday that it's not the relocation of the department - as has been speculated of late but flatly rejected by federal Veterans Affairs minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn - that is the issue but the continuing reduction in services to veterans and their families.

"If the minister continues with his proposal to reduce the number of employees in the department, this will only compound the problem,'' Downe said. "The main concern I continue to hear from veterans has to do with the decline in the quality of services they are receiving from the department.''

Stogran said the possibility that the 1,200-employee DVA headquarters in Charlottetown will be downsized is ridiculous.

"The government sends troo

s into harm's way. If you are not going to treat them right when they come back don't send them over there to begin with,'' the ombudsman said.
Stogran said DVA has become too cost-conscious.

"The leadership is so fiscally conscious and the system is so rigid that they have developed a kind of insurance company kind of approach to doing business and the bigger picture might not be visible to the person on the front line (who is) actually dealing with a veteran.''

Downe said the younger veterans who have served in Afghanistan, the Gulf War and on various peacekeeping missions have in many cases returned to their families with very serious injuries, both physical and psychological.

The modern veteran caseload, especially related to post-traumatic stress, is increasing and the department needs trained employees, including staff who have actually served in the Canadian Forces, to assist the veterans, the P.E.I. senator said.

Downe said one in five VAC employees will be eligible for retirement in the next five years.

"It is time to stop trying to save money on the backs of veterans and provide them with the assistance they need,'' Downe said.

Stogran said he wonders who is going to look after the modern veterans.

"Where are these people going to be in 10 or 20 years?'' Stogran said. "Who is going to look after them? It looks like it's going to be provincial health care, that's the way it looks like it is going.''

Stogran said VAC is overwhelmed with the workload coming from soldiers coming back from Afghanistan.

"How can we talk about reducing (employees)?''

Stogran said moving the headquarters to Ottawa would only make things worse.

"You'd just end up with professional bureaucrats,'' he said.

Stogran said he has no intention of backing down in the final three months of his job as ombudsman.