Personal Letter from Minister of Veterans Affairs ........ March . 14 , 2016 ........ Keep The Troops informed at All Costs !

Thanks for sharing with us Davey, the way I see it we the veteran should be able to send questions and concerns to our elected officials at any time and expect a polite respectful answer to our questions. The problem has always been these self serving politicians and senior staff that figure they are gods. Please take care my friend, have not spoken with you n a while but do admire and respect your commitment to family first, brothern second. Ready Aye Ready

Ya ..... maybe the reply from MVA Hehr wasn't so nice

2 claims post 2006 rewinded into PA .... well ..... unless you ask ..... you'll Never know !

Brits , a bad comparative ? ....... then who ? that's who I stood along side of in Bosnia @ times , Plus The Russians , The etc ... etc ... 20+ Nations in total , does it matter ?

The point is ..... Canada's Disability Pay Rates are low . period .

btw ..... the apple came 1st .... Remember Adam & Eve ? No mention of the Orange there , but who cares

WHAT MATTERS ...... is that " WE " tell our stories to him , in HOPES that " HE GETS IT "

I am a Team Player ........ YOU asked politely what I said , I DELIVERED !

Great Response to me pinger ........ I'M a OPEN BOOK , you know my name & where I live .

BUT ..... my Family of 7 comes before all of you & THAT IS WHY I ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS .

INTEL ...... For Country Troops

Have yourself a nice evening pinger , GoodNight Men .

Retired Army MasterSniper
Dave Fitzpatrick
Family of .......7
Get er' Done By'e's

Thanks Recon. The letter you got remains not nice to me. But how in blazes do you figure 2 claims approved post 2006 could rewind into your PA? Unless it's consequential I don't recall doing that and I'm a bastard.

About the Brits, Aussies or us in the same you got . Bad comparative. What came first. the orange or the apple?

What matters most imo is for ALL of us stay well, and to look out on a number of counts.

To help each other. Nuff said.

Hey Pinger .... i'll respond & let you know what I said no problem there .

I introduced myself , gave him a breakdown of my all service - Summery of Assessment totalling 136% , & because of the size of our family @ 7 members .... I had 4 concerns for our future as i'm disabled in many ways which I pointed out to him . & considering I have 5 kids to put through University while there's TALK of CANCELLING some pensions @ 65 yrs. of age I have a growing concern for their Future !

My 4 Major concerns in my letter to him were :

1..... Will Sisip Ltd be increased along side of ELB simultaneously from 75 - 90 % ?

2..... I've had 2 small claims approved under the NVC in 2007 & 2008 for 10% each , but at the time had not been given the option to add them to my existing monthly Pension Act payment which would change our income greatly . Is it possible under New Legislation to Reverse those 2 decisions & add them for a monthly payment to help Secure daily life for my family of 7 ?

3..... Will you be increasing the Monthly Disability Rates of Pay for the 5 - 100 % chart to possibly match that of British Soldiers we fought along side of overseas ? If a Canadian Soldier is severely injured in a place of Duty such as Bosnia or other he will get a Maximum of $ 306,000 ...... WHEREAS , a British Soldier fighting the same War will get a Maximum Payout of $ 1,000,000.00 Million dollars . Sir , the Canadian Army stands @ just 30% of our British Counterparts

4..... Sisip Ltd needs to become a LIFETIME Pension Sir , Not end @ 65 while we the Warriors struggle to Survive & continue to put our children through University .

For your Consideration & Approval Sir ,
Retired Army MasterSniper
Dave Fitzpatrick

Don't know what you wrote to get that response Recon but irregardless, that letter is kinda discounting and a tad snotty imo...

well said trooper totally agree . comparisons are difficult at best . even the big defining factor isn't easy as it depends on personal situations . but here is the one i use for that pain and suffering one.

young guy 20-25 gets 100% disabled in 2005 and applies then . he lives til 70-75 and through his life has a wife and the standard 2 kids.

he will recive aprox 2.4 million in pain and suffering payments.

if he waited to apply till after April 1st 2006 he would eventually end up getting 360,000 plus cola .

yup different ages ,percentages number of kids all matter witch makes a straight comparison difficult but .

pain and suffering;

PA 2.4 MILLION

NVC 360,000

that's my 2 cents

propat

In my own opinion there's two things that stands out with the PA

1. The total amount of benefits received is " TAX FREE " and it is for " LIFE "

2. The pain and suffering pension does not interfere with the recipient in rather the recipient works or does not work.

The PA is an across the board pension that brings about the one Veteran one Standard policy which is given to all veterans who were medically released , and were successful in their application for benefits.

It is a way of showing that all medical release Veterans served their Country , and all signed the dotted line to answer the call of duty at anytime.

It was a fairly simple process and for some it took time to get up to a suitable level of assessment , but that was the only pressure placed upon the Veteran , if you want to call it pressure.

Further to this , if your condition or conditions worsen , the Veteran could apply for and increase , and if a new condition appeared and was determined to be consequential to any of your conditions , you could apply for an increase based on consequential.

On top of all that , you could collect a CF pension , CPPD , and LTD.

With all that said , where does one see the comparison between the PA and the NVC ?

Thanks for the update Recon, your perseverance is appreciated , I'm not sure how to take it sparrow. while reading that letter and he talks about 1 million for most sever British single injury, the question then is at 100% disabled the British soldier would get 1 million, yet a Canadian soldier at 100% would receive a max of 360,000 a difference of 640,000 . And the brit may Qualify for AFCS income payment. So a Canadian soldier also may be ELIGIBLE to apply for other income support not a Guarantee. So if both soldiers get refused for other income support ,then which soldier is better off than. SO to use another country as an example in this case just doesn't cut the mustard, what it did prove is a big difference. Regardless that say Canada may offer more types of benefits for vets, but the issue still remains hard to get, and not a Guarantee. jmo hope it makes sense.

concur sparrow .

propat

The way I am reading the letter response from MVA Hehr is that he thinks we Veterans have it pretty easy compared to United Kingdom and we should stop complaining and he comes off as being hostile. Just how I am reading the letter.

Recon, when was this letter written? March 14? So 8 days before the budget was released, and he is saying that he hasn't even written the legislation to make the changes announced in the budget?

There is nothiing coming our way as the powers that be think the PA is a pot of gold. Yes it's monthly and tax free but it is no pot of gold. Most provincial compensation schemes provide more to be honest. Nothing new is coming our way, changing names of programs means nothing as most won't quaifly anyway. My cm at vac said to me awhile ago that unless something comes up I shouldn't be hearing from them because us grandfathered PA guys nothing is going to change for us so I believe that. This minister was put into this spot for no other reason than he's wheelchair bound and how can anyone claim they can't work when this guy goes to work everyday with his disability. Also career impact allowance sounds a lot like a payment for compensation because maybe you can't secure the job you had but don't let it fool you, they will be making the elb guys get jobs and that's a fact. Maybe you can work from home on the computer and get topped up by the CIA. It's fishy to me remember trust no one

isn't this fracking guy the deputy minister of national defence or something like that???? does he even remember what positions he holds anymore ???

WTF

propat

Dear Mr. Fitzpatrick ,

As you know , Veterans Affairs Canada pays disability benefits to former and still serving personnel of the Canadian Armed Forces who have a service - related illness or injury . Claims for disability benefits submitted prior to April . 01 , 2006 , were adjudicated under the Pension Act , which grants monthly payments . Applications made after this date are ruled under the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act , better known as the New Veterans Charter ( NVC ) , which grants lump sum disability awards . I should mention that there is NO PROVISION in either the Pension Act or the NVC to change how disability benefits are granted at this time .

In my mandate letter from the Prime Minister , I have been TASKED with Re-establishing LIFELONG pensions as an option for our men & women in uniform who were wounded in the line of duty . Among other improvements , the Government of Canada would also like to modify the Earnings Loss Benefit to provide eligible Veterans with 90 percent of their pre-release salary and expand access to the PIA . Veterans Affairs Canada is working on these issues , and I will brinf forward a PROPOSEL to Parliament for approval when it is finished .

With respect to your comments about disability compensation ..... NOTE to ALL .....  @ ( 1 Million )  ..... for British service men & women , allow me to explain that the Maximum amount payable under the United Kingdom's Armed Forces Compensation Scheme ( AFCS ) is only available to those who sustained profound injuries in a single incident and is therefore very difficult to qualify for .
     
   By Contrast , under Canada's NVC , each injury ( resulting from one or more incidents ) is considered separately . If an individual holds entitlement for Multiple conditions , the disability award rates for all of them are added together up to a Maximum of 100 % . It may interest you yo know that the Majority of disability awards granted to Canadian Armed Forces members and Veterans are paid at a Higher rate than the Lump Sums issued to their British counterparts .

Furthermore , the NVC offers a more comprehensive suite of benefits and programs than is provided under the AFCS . For example , only those assessed at the highest levels of disability  --  approximately 3 % of all lump sum claimants  -- may qualify for the AFCS's Guaranteed Income Payment  , whereas in Canada , any Veteran  -- no matter the extent of his / her disability  -- who participates in the NVC's rehabilitation Program is eligible to apply for the Earnings Loss Benefit .

You also mentioned the SISIP LTD . As this program falls under the purview of the Dept. of Nat. Def. , you may wish to address your questions in this regard to the Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan , Min. of Nat. Def.

     The Honourable Harjjit S Sajjan , PC,OMM,MSM,CD,MP
     Minister of National Defence
     National Defence Headquarters
    101 Colonel By Drive
    Ottawa , Ontario
    K1A 0K2

Chew on this & reply .... if you wish ! ........................ & Write The Min. of Nat. Def. a Letter about Sisip Ltd .

For Country
Retired Army MasterSniper
Dave Fitzpatrick