Government of Canada Veterans Ombudsman	Gouvernement du Canada Ombudsman des vétérans
	P.O. Box 18 Station B Succursale B Ottawa, ON K1 P 6C3	CP 18 Succursale B Ottawa (Ont.) K1 P 6C3

November 21, 2011

The Honourable Percy E. Downe, Senator
The Senate
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A OP4

Dear Senator Downe:

I am pleased to provide you with a copy of the 2010-2011 Annual Report for the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman entitled One Veteran: A Matter of Fairness.
The report contains an overview of our operations and activities from April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011, as well as our priorities for the current year.

Parliamentarians have an important role to play in ensuring that ill and injured Veterans are treated fairly. Fairness, as an outcome, should be measured in
terms of adequacy (Are the right programs and services in place to meet the needs of ill and injured Veterans?), sufficiency (Are the right programs and
services sufficiently resourced?), and accessibility (Are eligibility criteria creating unfair barriers, and can the benefits and services provided by Veterans Affairs
Canada be accessed quickly and easily?). By considering the needs of ill and injured Veterans and still-serving members through a lens of fairness when
making decisions about deficit reduction measures and legislative amendments governing the provision of benefits and services, you can bring about positive
change.

I firmly believe that Veterans Affairs Canada should be exempt from the Government-wide deficit reduction exercise and that any efficiencies resulting
from its transformation agenda should be reapplied to programs and services. The status quo is not acceptable and I would like to provide a few examples
where improvements should be made:

• Veterans Affairs Canada has reduced its service standard for individuals to receive a decision on first application for disability benefits to 16 weeks,
  down from 24 weeks. For Canadians who apply for employment insurance benefits, the service standard to receive the first payment is 4 weeks from
  date of application. Instead of reducing the Department's resources, I would suggest that resources be applied to further improving the service standard.
  
  
• As a result of improvements to the Earnings Loss Benefit, the minimum pre-tax income for injured Veterans of the Regular Force and full-time
  reservists who are undergoing rehabilitation or who cannot return to work has been increased to $40,000 a year. Part-time reservists with similar
  disabilities and the same financial needs as others during rehabilitation will only receive $24,300 a year.
  
  
• Under the Funeral and Burial Program, Veterans Affairs Canada provides financial assistance up to a maximum amount of $3,600 for funeral and
  burial-related services. This amount, unchanged since 2001, is far below the average cost of a funeral in Canada, which is between $7,000 and $10,000.

As for the New Veterans Charter, the changes resulting from the adoption of Bill C-55 should be seen as a first step in the process of addressing the Charter's
deficiencies.

With age, the needs of Canada's Veterans of the Second World War and the Korean War are increasing. Extensive financial and human resources are also
required of the Department to address the complex needs of modern-day Veterans. Now is not the time to restrict the Department's ability to fulfill Canada's commitments to its Veterans.

As a nation, we have the obligation to take care of those that were put in harm's way to protect our rights and freedoms. Ensuring that their needs are met is the
nation's greatest and most meaningful expression of gratitude; it is a debt that must be repaid.

Sincerely,

Guy Parent
Veterans Ombudsman