Summation Coming 16 April

How can someone involved in a class action lawsuit, that looks like is heading back to the courts, be involved with a policy advisory group? Conflict of interest mean anything to anyone here?

Sean's article hit the nail on the head , and those groups behind closed doors all have their own agenda's and interest.
I totally agree with Rex and Propat , secrecy only leads to more rumors and certainly does not bold well with the majority of Veterans.

Transparency is KEY , nobody's faulting them in stepping up for the cause , but if it's to be done in secrecy , how are the majority of Veterans going to know what's going on ?

The Minister should be assembling a system where a variety of Veterans outside of so called groups could have their opinions or voices heard.

I have been hearing , "reviews of the NVC" "fix the gaps within the NVC" since the NVC has been enacted  we are in the year 2016  with a new government , and here again the exact same two things are being brought up , Reviews and Fixing gaps.
If they do not realize what the main problem is by now , this will sadly continue.
Unfortunately it is the Veterans that are caught up in the middle of this ongoing ordeal.

The Equitas should wash their hands with the government and let the courts decide , any further talks will probably just add to the already delay that has occurred.

ya bigrex I agree secrecy ALWAYS breads A LOT more rumors than full openness . the lawsuit was put in pause for nothing should have been full steam ahead the WHOLE way now they are in a much weaker position .

"It should come as no surprise that the primary topic of discussion was the return to SOME FORM of pension"

I may not be surprised knowing how thing work but if ANY vet org actually engaged in ANY discussion on ANY FORM other than the one real one than im fracking disgusted .

propat

"Once again, confidentiality precludes me from mentioning the detail of our discussions. This confidentiality is necessary to curtail rampant internet speculation as much as it is to promote a free exchange of ideas among the Group member"

In my experience, confidentiality, AKA secrecy, only breeds more rumours, not less. And telling others, that were not hand picked, to cool their jets, comes off as extremely condescending, even if unintentional. After all, he himself does not represent a recognized Veterans group. He is merely plaintiff in a class action, and is not answerable to anyone, including those included in the class.

But that aside, if the first meeting went well, with the primary topic being the return to the pension, how then could the second meeting about the lawsuit, that also revolves around a disability pension, not go well? It just seems like they counter each other.

Enough said , I think the best avenue they can take now is to suspend all talks with the government in regards to the Equitas Law Suit and concentrate solely on continuing the court process in continuing with the Law Suit !

More info below...................It's Back to court

From Mark Campbell, Equitas. Please read and share
Well, it has been another busy time, with two trips to Ottawa in the space of a week and a half. The first journey was for a second meeting of the re-booted Minister's Policy Advisory Group on 6 April. This was followed by an Equitas Class Action Lawsuit meeting with Minister Hehr and his principal staff on 11 April. With a day in the air each way for each meeting, that was 4 days of travel for two days of work. In a word, Painful!!
The first meeting lasted a day and a half, and I am pleased to report that I found it to be extremely constructive and worthwhile. Unlike the previous "Meet and Greets", this series of briefings and meetings focused on relevant issues and substance. A broad range of topics was discussed, with the primary focus on identifying gaps in the New Veterans' Charter (NVC) and their potential fixes. It should come as no surprise that the primary topic of discussion was the return to some form of pension. Once again, confidentiality precludes me from mentioning the detail of our discussions. This confidentiality is necessary to curtail rampant internet speculation as much as it is to promote a free exchange of ideas among the Group members. The official Record of Discussion, along with the composition of the Policy Advisory Group, will be made public on the VAC website within two weeks of the meeting. Officially released detail of the discussions will be found there. Until then, here is the English version of the official communique:
"The Veterans Affairs Canada Policy Advisory Group met in Ottawa April 6 and 7, 2016 to develop substantive recommendations for the purpose of implementing the priorities for legislation and regulatory reform contained in the Mandate Letter received by the Minister of Veterans Affairs from the Prime Minister and which delineates the commitments of the new Federal Government to the Veterans’ community.
In accordance with its mandate, the Policy Advisory Group continues to specifically identify the gaps, weaknesses and inequities in veterans’ legislation, regulation and policy that need to be addressed by Veterans Affairs Canada in order to rectify these deficiencies and shortcomings, with particular emphasis on the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-Establishment and Compensation Act (the New Veterans Charter).
In pursuit of its fundamental objective, the Policy Advisory Group is charting a course of action to ensure that Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP Veterans and their families receive the care, compassion, respect, support and economic opportunities they deserve through the policy recommendations that the Advisory Group will provide to the Minister of Veterans Affairs."
The Policy Advisory Group will meet again in May 2016, just prior to the next semi-annual Stakeholder Summit involving all 50-odd Veterans' Advocacy Groups. Until then, those that dd not get a seat at the policy table will simply have to cool their jets. The Stakeholder Summit will afford all recognized Veterans' Groups an opportunity to be seen and heard, as has been promised by the GOC's consultative process. To allow every single advocacy group, no matter how well-intentioned a seat on every committee would be to invite paralysis of process. It would simply be too cumbersome to get any real work done (eg. Too many cooks in the kitchen!). Hence the selective membership of the six committees, but the all-inclusive nature of the semi-annual Stakeholder Summits.
The Equitas meeting with Minister Hehr, his principal staff and the Department of Justice Lawyers did not go as well as the earlier Policy Committee Meeting. After a year of discussions, the two sides were finally unable to agree on a resolution of the case. As a result, it now appears that we will be headed back to court at the end of May. We will hear the B.C. Appeal Court judges rule on the Federal Government's Appeal of our initial win in the B.C. Supreme Court. This new decision will be a key determinant in whether or not we (serving and/or former soldiers) have the Constitutional right to sue the GOC in the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). As such, this ruling will set the stage for any subsequent legal action to be pursued in the SCC. As stated before, we are not yet finished with the legal system. Yes, the Liberal GOC is finally moving on the real issues of substance that have plagued veterans under the NVC for the past 10 years. But now is not the time to let down our guard. After all, how do you think we got this far? It wasn't with our sparkling personalities and charming words, I can assure you. The Equitas class action lawsuit has been instrumental in bringing the GOC to heel thus far regarding the wishes of our nation's veterans. The case will continue until it becomes unquestionably clear that Canada's new generation of Veterans are going to be treated with the same degree of care, compassion and respect as our previous generations of Veterans under the Government of the day. That is it, that is all.
Edited to add that following the Equitas meeting, myself, Aaron Bedard and Brian McKenna got to spend 30 minutes or so alone with the Minister of National Defence (MND). Both Brian and Aaron know Minister Sajjan personally from their shared Reserve Force time (Brian) as well as their work on his campaign during the last Federal election. We were able to discuss matters related to the Equitas lawsuit and general issues surrounding Veteran transition to civilian life. As you would expect, Minister Sajjan was an extremely gracious and friendly host. I must admit to being just a tad "star-struck" by this unexpectedly close encounter with Canada's very own "Badass" MND!
Until next month (or so),
Mark


http://army.ca/forums/index.php/topic,122743.25.html




Cheers

Thanks for that Danny , will standby for a further update on the 16th.

Equitas Society

Extracted from their Facebook page:
Good day troops. Its certainly late , in ottawa time. I will be back in vancouver by Wednesday. We've had a number of discussions with government , continuing the conversations on our case, as well as reaffirming the committee processes. After I'm back for a few days and have time to digest, I'll post a more in depth synopsis here for all of the community . We potentially may have more meetings tomorrow but we shall see. My intent is to pass on a summation via this page NLT 1200, friday 16 April.