Budget 2017 - And VAC Part in it -

Here is the document.................part 3 covers vac items

PART 3
GREATER SUPPORT FOR CANADA’S VETERANS
AND THEIR FAMILIES
Canada’s women and men in uniform have served our country with bravery,
honour and dignity—putting their lives at risk to protect the values we cherish
most. Our veterans deserve our greatest recognition and respect for their service.
The Government is committed to ensuring that it delivers the programs and
services our veterans—and their families—need for a seamless and successful
transition from military to civilian life.
Last year, Budget 2016 invested $5.6 billion over six years to give more money to
veterans with injuries or illnesses incurred during military service. In particular,
Budget 2016:
• Raised income replacement under the Earnings Loss Benefit to 90 per cent of
pre-release salary for veterans who require rehabilitation or cannot return
to work.
• Expanded access to higher grades of the Permanent Impairment Allowance
to better support veterans who have had their career options limited by a
service-related illness or injury.
• Increased compensation for pain and suffering by increasing the Disability
Award to a maximum of $360,000 in 2017.
These measures represent a significant investment that will ensure that disabled
veterans who are unable to return to the workforce because of their injuries
receive higher lifelong financial support.
Budget 2016 also restored critical access to services for veterans by:
• Reopening nine service offices across the country, opening an additional
service office and expanding outreach to veterans in the north.
• Hiring additional case managers to reduce the client-to-case manager ratio
to no more than 25:1 to help veterans make successful transitions to
civilian life.
The Government has been actively consulting with the veterans’ community—
from coast to coast to coast—to better understand the problems and
challenges facing Canadian veterans and their families throughout their lives.
Building off these constructive conversations, Budget 2017 proposes measures to:
• Help veterans transition from military service to civilian life.
• Better support the families of ill and injured veterans, including caregivers.
• Invest in mental health services and care for veterans at risk.


These measures are informed by mandate commitments, stakeholder
consultations, as well as the work of the Veterans Ombudsman. A recent status
update from the Ombudsman highlighted the achievements of his office,
noting that:
“Out of the 57 recommendations that were
developed in collaboration with Veterans’
advocates and organizations, 37 have been
fully or partially implemented and 20 are
waiting to be addressed. Six of the items in the
Minister of Veterans Affairs’ Mandate Letter are
based on my recommendations, and three of
these were addressed in Budget 2016.”
— Guy Parent, Veterans Ombudsman
The Hill Times, February 20, 2017
What Success Will Look Like
• More veterans getting the skills, training and education they
need for civilian employment.
• Better support for families of ill and injured veterans,
including caregivers.
• Partnerships with third-party organizations to lead and pilot
innovative projects for veterans.
• Better knowledge of how to prevent, assess and treat mental
health issues.


FURTHER ENHANCING LIFELONG FINANCIAL
SUPPORT FOR OUR ILL AND INJURED VETERANS
Budget 2016 took an important step to significantly boost the Disability Award,
the Earnings Loss Benefit and the Permanent Impairment Allowance for
veterans—as recommended by the Veterans Ombudsman. Nevertheless, the
financial supports for disabled veterans remain unnecessarily complex.
Canada’s veterans deserve a simple, straightforward and understandable
benefits system that better meets their needs.

The Government of Canada will take further action to simplify these programs to
better meet the needs of veterans. Specifically, the Government will move
forward with its plan to fulfill its commitment to re-establish lifelong pensions as an
option for injured veterans. This will provide an option for injured veterans to
receive their Disability Award through a monthly payment for life, rather than in a
one-time payment. This change to the Disability Award is something that the
veterans’ community has long advocated for and the Government remains
committed to delivering. The Government has made considerable progress in its
work to develop the pension for life option and will announce further details
this year.
Moving forward, the Government will continue to work with the veterans’
community to examine the best way to streamline and simplify the system of
financial support programs currently offered to veterans.

CLOSING THE SEAM—SUPPORTING CANADIAN
ARMED FORCES MEMBERS AND VETERANS
During cross-country consultations, veterans and stakeholders consistently
reported that their programs and benefits are complex, confusing and stressful
to navigate. For example, Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans do
not know if post-traumatic stress disorder support should come from the
Department of National Defence (DND) or Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), or
who they should go to if they require family support. To confuse matters further,
there are often overlapping programs that exist between DND and VAC and as
a result, too many Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans face long
wait times or fall through the cracks.
To address this, VAC and DND have engaged in a joint effort to examine the
best way to streamline and simplify the dual support systems at VAC and DND.
Budget 2017 announces that the Government will be undertaking a
transformation of both DND and VAC programs to ensure our women and men
in uniform have a better transition from the Canadian Armed Forces to VAC. The
Government will initiate a convergence action plan that will see VAC and DND
addressing the overlap and gaps that currently exist for Canadian Armed Forces
members released from the military. The plan will also simplify benefits so that
veterans will have a streamlined, client-centric process that is easier to navigate,
gets veterans their services quicker and helps them transition to civilian life.
These efforts will contribute significantly to building a new relationship of trust with
Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans and their families.

A NEW VETERANS’ EDUCATION AND
TRAINING BENEFIT
After putting themselves in harm’s way in service to our country, our women and
men in uniform deserve a successful transition to civilian life. A smooth transition is
vital for the overall well-being of our veterans and their families.
To help, Budget 2017 proposes to amend legislation to create a new Education
and Training Benefit. In short, this benefit would provide more money for veterans
to go to college, university or a technical school after they complete their
service, through an investment of $133.9 million over six years, starting in 2016–17,
and $10.3 million per year ongoing.
The new program would begin in April 2018 for veterans honourably released on
or after April 1, 2006. Veterans with 6 years of eligible service would be entitled to
up to $40,000 of benefits, while veterans with 12 years of eligible service would
be entitled to up to $80,000 of benefits.
ENHANCING CAREER TRANSITION SERVICES
In addition to providing more money for veterans to go back to school, Budget
2017 proposes to amend legislation to enhance the Career Transition Services
Program. This measure would equip veterans, Canadian Armed Forces
members, survivors, and veterans’ spouses and common-law partners with the
tools they need to successfully navigate and transition to the civilian workforce.
The services offered would be expanded to include coaching and job
placement assistance, all of which would be provided through a national
contractor starting in April 2018. The investment would total $74.1 million over
six years, starting in 2016–17, and $4.5 million per year ongoing.

How Veterans Will Benefit
David is a 32-year-old Canadian Armed Forces member who
will be released in the summer of 2018 after 12 years of service
in the Regular Force as an ammunition technician. He is
planning on going back to school full-time for a three-year
college course to become a civil engineering technician. He
will receive an education benefit of $20,000 per year for each
of those three years. Depending on his family income, David
could also be eligible to receive student grants and loans
through the Canada Student Loans Program. In addition,
David can access employment services such as career
counselling and job-search training under the Career Transition
Services Program to assist him in re-entering the labour force
following the completion of his studies.

CAREGIVER RECOGNITION BENEFIT
Informal caregivers—who are often family members—play an integral and
irreplaceable role in supporting ill and injured veterans after they leave service.
Yet the sacrifices informal caregivers make for their loved ones are not being
properly recognized.
Budget 2017 proposes to amend legislation and invest $187.3 million over six
years, starting in 2016–17, and $9.5 million per year ongoing, to create the
Caregiver Recognition Benefit for modern-day veterans. This benefit would
replace the existing Family Caregiver Relief Benefit and would provide a more
generous non-taxable $1,000 monthly benefit payable directly to caregivers to
better recognize and honour the vital role they play.
ELIMINATING VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION TIME
LIMITS FOR VETERANS’ SURVIVORS AND SPOUSES
When a soldier serves in the Canadian Armed Forces, their family serves
with them.
Military families deal with anxieties and challenges that most Canadians will
never have to face, with spouses, common-law partners and family members
often sacrificing job and educational opportunities. These burdens are
compounded when veterans die as a result of a service-related injury, or when
veterans have permanent service-related injuries that prevent them from
returning to work.
Currently, vocational rehabilitation programs are available to eligible survivors
and spouses, but there is a one-year time limit for application from the death of
a veteran or when a veteran is determined to be permanently disabled. The
veterans’ community has shared that this time limit does not recognize the fact
that it can take more than one year to adjust to the death or permanent
disability of a veteran. Quite simply, survivors and spouses need more flexibility to
use the supports that are available to them. The one-year time limit represents
added stress for military families experiencing traumatic transitions.
To recognize this and to ensure that military families have the time they need to
adjust to new and difficult circumstances, Budget 2017 proposes to invest
$23.8 million over six years, starting in 2016–17, and $2.1 million per year ongoing,
to eliminate the one-year time limit for eligible spouses and survivors as of
April 1, 2018 so that they are able to apply to the Rehabilitation and Vocational
Assistance Program whenever they are prepared to return to work.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO THE MILITARY FAMILY
RESOURCE CENTRES FOR MEDICALLY RELEASED
VETERANS’ FAMILIES
Military families are faced with long separations from loved ones, the spectre of
relocation and the inherent risk that accompanies all those who serve. Canada
has a long history of supporting its military families, and the Military Family
Resource Centres are an important part of that effort.
The Military Family Resource Centres provide the kind of help and support that
the families of the women and men in active military service need most. For
example, it connects families to mental health and wellness programs and it
helps military spouses find jobs or acquire new skills.
To recognize the vital role played by the families of veterans living with physical
and mental health issues as a result of their service, Budget 2017 proposes to
invest $147.0 million over six years, starting in 2016–17, and $15.0 million per year
ongoing, to expand access to the Military Family Resource Centres for the
families of veterans medically released from April 2018 onwards. This would
increase the availability of the Military Family Resource Centres for medically
released veterans from 7 locations under the current pilot to all 32 locations
across the country.
In addition, in order to better support veterans and their families, Budget 2017
proposes to invest $22.4 million over three years, starting in 2017–18, in an
outreach strategy to ensure they are informed of the range of supports available
to them.
CREATING A CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE ON POSTTRAUMATIC
STRESS DISORDER AND RELATED
MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS
Our women and men in uniform are often exposed to traumatic stress, which
can lead to psychological injuries. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a very
serious mental health issue, which negatively affects our veterans and
their families.
In order to improve the well-being of our veterans living with PTSD, Budget 2017
proposes to create a Centre of Excellence on PTSD and related mental health
conditions. The Centre would have a strong focus on the creation and
dissemination of knowledge on prevention, assessment and treatment of PTSD
and related mental health conditions for veterans and Canadian Armed Forces
members. Budget 2017 proposes to invest $17.5 million over four years, starting in
2018–19, and $9.2 million per year ongoing, to ensure the Centre has the tools it
needs to make a difference in the lives of our veterans.


VETERAN AND FAMILY WELL-BEING FUND
Veterans’ organizations are often best placed to understand the needs of
veterans and develop innovative programs to improve their quality of life.
Building on this, the Government proposes to establish a Veteran and Family
Well-Being Fund that would support the creation of innovative services and
support specifically tailored to improving the quality of life for our veterans.
Budget 2017 proposes to provide $13.9 million over four years, starting in 2018–19,
and $3.5 million per year ongoing, to Veterans Affairs Canada to foster
innovation across the public, private and academic fields. This Fund would
select proposals put forward by organizations to conduct research and develop
or implement a wide range of innovative programs that will make a real
difference in the lives of Canada’s veterans and their families.
VETERAN EMERGENCY FUND
There may be times when veterans and their families do not have immediate
access to the food, shelter or medication they need. To help these families when
they need it the most, Budget 2017 proposes to provide $4 million over four years,
starting in 2018–19, and $1.0 million per year ongoing, to help Veterans Affairs
Canada address the urgent situations faced by Canada’s veterans and
their families.



http://www.budget.gc.ca/2017/docs/plan/budget-2017-en.pdf


sorry my copy and paste got abit messed up the first time....................now fixed i hope


Cheers

Well we know Veterans Affairs is getting a 29.3 per cent increase in funding in today"s budget.

There's roughly 60,000 Veterans who are affected by the disability award retro, come April 01, a good chunk of funds will go towards that.

The expanding access to the PIA/CIA is also including in this budget.

TPI changed to DEC should also play into this budget.

We also know about the lifelong pension being apart of this budget, supposedly in place by years end.

Besides what we already know from above, perhaps a movement on the wellness centers, or movement on greater education/care and support for mental health issues.

Pre coverage 2pm budget reading 4pm

I'm hoping they'll budget for the ELB retro lawsuit.

First of all it's Budget day Vets. Does anyone know what time the speech is? And
If you want to chime in on what you think will be announced for Vets go for it.VVV...