Disability victory for vets

It is great that the answers are coming from veterans who have been through the same process, and also great to hear about veterans who have received helped, but at the same time it angers me that some aren't receiving their full benefits because of a system that is broken. Meaning, I could of given up and never received the help I am getting now.
I read about current announcements (with hope), and court decisions and I can relate to all of it wondering to myself, what now? What do I do? Do I do anything or rely on someone else to direct me in the right direction.

honestly danny this is the best thing . questions get asked and they do get answered . yes sometimes incorrectly but that is not a problem because its right there for all to see a conversation insures ending up with not only the right answer but the best answer .

ya know yes you are suppose to do it this way but if you do it this way or do this as well you will get a better result . experience matters I guess .

someone on a phone gives ya the wrong answer welllll you get the wrong answer that's it that's all.

propat

I agree that CSAT offers excellent support for Veterans.
When I'm looking for help - or support , or even just to read , CSAT is the place for me.
The SISIP topic was a busy topic on CSAT , this during the beginning to the near end of the law suit , but the site goes way beyond that with all the members of Veterans that comes in the form of older an younger generation Veterans, who give their time to help one another on a daily basis in a wide range of topics , you really can't get any better than that !
I know I, as others do appreciate all the support an help CSAT brings forward.
Sometimes I , an others go off track a bit , no worries about that we are all only human , an further to that , we always seem to find our way back on track.
It is an excellent site , run by a knowledgeable, competent , and caring individual , an you can add to that , the whole staff of CSAT.

Danny I think the best thing about the CSAT is that we don't get financial compensation.

Rather we get emotional compensation.

I know I feel good that just a few words can help a vet so many ways. But the best words are the ones that help a vet in emotional distress. He realizes that he is not the only one out there with a problem.

Everyone that posts on CSAT deserves a huge pat on the back because I have watched this forum go from about 90 people to over 800 and you all help each other.

This is, to me anyway, the new definition of "We take care of our own."

Thanks for replying back Teentitan, please keep pushing for more opportunities so vets can have meaningful employment. Crisis line/Voice of reason line, it would be nice to have a veteran at hand 24/7 to answer question or support a fellow vet. I guess for now this forum is the next best thing. I do think people in this forum should be receiving compensation for their services. The help on this forum and knowing that there are other listening ears out there as concerned as me gives me the sense that I am not alone.
Thanks

Hiring vets has always been brought up at Stakeholder/Summit meetings. Right now VVi is pushing for a CF/Vet crisis line.

The current crisis line is for all members of government.

It is a decent crisis line but there are times glitches and lack of knowledge happen that a vet or CF member would understand.

Veterans Affairs should have a department of (paid) ex-military members like the chaps who are on this forum. Sort of like a call center; where a veteran can have real time access to another veteran. It should be in my VAC account and be a secure site for only former and serving members.
Basically, VAC should have a unit comprised of ex-military who can answer questions and queries that a fellow veteran may have. Who best to ask then a fellow soldier who may have had similar life experiences.
Teentitan, not sure if this has been proposed?

Well funny you should bring up that idea Riddick as it definitely sounds like something the OVO could do.

This could also be very, very expensive for the government!!!....although the money comes from us anyways.......but you know what would be financially smart! Is for someone or a team to start going through the claims/appeal/appeal....that have been unfairly denied...ie........where the benefit of doubt was not generously applied and have the claims/ruling over turned and .........approved!!!(anyone from VAC/VRAB reading this?).........better to eat humble pie than to be dis-banned/eliminated for good. Better to give vets what they/we deserve than to spend more money fighting them/us in court and then end up giving us what we deserve anyways........makes sense to me.......but I guess that is why I am not a politician throwing tax payers money around.

Riddick

THIS IS F'N HUGE! I paid $20K back in 2000 to a lawyer to go to Federal court.

This people is possibly the start of the end to VRAB! And we have Guy Parent to thank for this.

He wrote the reports and the Minister listened so spread the word to friends who have had all their appeals rejected.

In a recent decision that could have implications for former Forces personnel with mental health problems, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that a former Armed Forces officer should receive disability benefits.

Anne Cole was discharged because she suffered from depression, but Veterans Affairs Canada, in a decision upheld by the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) and the Federal Court, rejected her disability claim.

Veterans Affairs argued that her illness did not develop as a result of military operational decisions during her 21-year career with the Forces, but resulted from personal factors, including a family history of depression.

However, the Federal Court of Appeal disagreed in a May 5 ruling. Stephen Acker, Ms. Cole’s lawyer, writes that the justices said that it was enough to show that Ms. Cole’s military service was a “significant, or not insignificant” factor and that her illness “arose out of or was directly connected with” her service.

The intent of Parliament, her lawyers argued, was to “facilitate, rather than impede, the awarding of pensions to disabled veterans, given their sacrifice and service to the country.”

However, Mr. Acker says the ruling is unlikely to unleash a flood of new approvals for mental health claims. For the department and the review board have traditionally been slow to integrate court rulings on such matters. Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent reported in February that the department and appeal board have only partly implemented earlier recommendations to bring adjudication procedures into line with Federal Court decisions.

The department, he says, must give the review board the resources to publish board and related court decisions on its website to help other veterans with similar cases.

The 2015 report referred to a three-year-old recommendation that Ottawa is finally addressing. Veterans Affairs Minister Erin O’Toole announced last week that the federal government will fund veterans’ pension appeals all the way to the Federal Court. Until now, only appeals as far as the VRAB had been funded by Ottawa; veterans who appealed to the Federal Court had to hire a lawyer, find a pro bono one or represent themselves in court.

It is also encouraging to note that the federal government, which has frequently appealed court rulings that are not in its favour, will not dispute this ruling.

The government, wrote a spokesman for Mr. O’Toole, “applauds the court’s clarification of the test for establishing a veteran’s entitlement to a disability pension.”

Indeed, the number of veterans with mental health problems in particular has been growing. A 2013 survey found that the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder among members of the Canadian Forces has nearly doubled since 2002. And Auditor General Michael Ferguson reported in November that veterans, many of whom served in Afghanistan and Iraq, are not getting timely care for mental and other health problems.

That’s not what Canadians want. According to a 2014 federal government poll of 3,000 people, Canadians were concerned that not enough was being done to help vets with mental and other health problems.

With widespread public support for veterans, the Harper government would be wise — particularly in an election year — to ensure that all are getting the medical care and pensions that they most certainly have earned.

http://m.thechronicleherald.ca/editorials/1300569-editorial-disability-victory-for-vets