By Brian Forbes, Chairman, NCVA and Chairman of the Executive Committee, The War Amps
The much-awaited 2021 federal budget was introduced by the Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, on April 19, 2021.
Although there was unfortunately not a great deal of attention given to veterans’ issues, the following budgetary proposals represent a number of potentially positive developments in relation to veterans’ benefits and the operations of Veterans Affairs Canada
1. Supporting our Veterans – “Veterans are three to four times as likely to suffer from depressive or anxiety disorders, and over 15 times more likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), than the general population. Veterans are entitled to financial support for mental health care through the Treatment Benefit Program but they can wait up to two years to receive mental health care while waiting for their disability benefit application to be confirmed. …
“Budget 2021 proposes to provide $140 million over five years starting in 2021-22, and $6 million ongoing, to Veterans Affairs Canada for a program that would cover the mental health care costs of veterans with PTSD, depressive, or anxiety disorders while their disability benefit application is being processed.”
Comment: The National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada (NCVA) and The War Amps of Canada (WAC) have strongly crusaded for a dramatic, systemic change to address the unacceptable backlog and wait times currently experienced by veterans in making disability claims to the department. Although this proposal does not comprehensively extend our concept of automatic entitlement/pre-approval, it does provide a significant step forward in recognizing that treatment benefits should be granted immediately and not be dependent on the disability application process which can take up to two years. Thus, this provision is hopefully a springboard to expanding this principle so that veterans are not held in the lurch for many months and even years before health care/treatment benefits are available to them. The government has determined that mental health care (PTSD, depressive or anxiety disorders) should be given priority at this time. It will be our position that this should be extended to all physical disabilities so that veterans in serious need of health care or treatment benefits should be granted the same sense of priority.
It is noteworthy that the actual budgetary accounts provide financial funding for Veterans Affairs Canada in the amount of approximately $28 million to extend disability adjudication resources provided in Budget 2018 for an additional year, and to develop more efficient disability benefits application and decision-making processes using digital technologies. We continue to urge VAC to take more creative and innovative steps to address the backlog/wait times dilemma. In our considered judgment, increasing staff resources and digital technology alone will not meaningfully alleviate this ongoing crisis impacting the disabled veterans’ community.
2. The Veteran and Family Well-being Fund – As many veterans have faced unique challenges during the pandemic, the government is proposing in Budget 2021:
“…to provide an additional $15 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Veterans Affairs Canada to expand and enhance the Veteran and Family Well-Being Fund for projects that will support veterans during the post COVID-19 recovery, including addressing homelessness, employment, retraining, and health challenges.”
3. Towards a New Disability Benefit – It is not without significance that “the pandemic has exposed many of the long-standing challenges persons with disabilities face, including an increased risk of poverty. The Government of Canada has a number of programs and services in place that provide support to Canadians with disabilities [including disabled veterans] but these are often complex and can be difficult to navigate for users. To ensure all persons with disabilities have the support they need to overcome persistent barriers to full economic and social participation, the government [has] committed to bringing forward a new disability benefit.
“Budget 2021 proposes to provide $11.9 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Employment and Social Development Canada to undertake consultations to reform the eligibility process for federal disability programs and benefits. This will help maximize the reach of these programs and improve the lives of Canadians living with disabilities. This work would feed directly into the design of a new disability benefit.”
Comment: This budgetary proposal was somewhat surprising and not totally clear as to its application to disabled veterans. It will be of interest as to how this potential new disability benefit will be integrated into veterans’ legislation, given the extensive disability programs that currently exist in the Pension Act/Veterans Well-being Act.
It will be our position that this provides an excellent opportunity to adopt our longstanding recommendation for a “one veteran – one standard” approach which would result in one pension/compensation/wellness model for all disabled veterans with parallel disabilities.
Many of the NCVA/Ministerial Policy Advisory Group recommendations also emphasize the expansion of the Income Replacement Benefit/Career Impact Allowance to cover future loss of income/the expansion of the Additional Pain and Suffering Compensation benefit and the addition of Exceptional Incapacity Allowance, Attendance Allowance and family benefits found under the Pension Act.
If the department is truly interested in creating a new disability benefit, we would be fully prepared to collaborate on providing recommendations to achieve this end for Canada’s disabled veterans.
4. Improving Access to the Disability Tax Credit – The government has committed to helping more people living with disabilities better access the Disability Tax Credit provisions by expanding the eligibility criteria for mental functions and life-sustaining therapy.
“Budget 2021 proposes to update the list of mental functions of everyday life that is used for assessment for the Disability Tax Credit. Using terms that are more clinically relevant would make it easier to be assessed, reduce delays, and improve access to benefits.
“Budget 2021 also proposes to recognize more activities in determining time spent on life-sustaining therapy and to reduce the minimum required frequency of therapy to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit. To ensure these changes enable applicants to have a fair and proper assessment of their eligibility for the Disability Tax Credit, the government will undertake a review of these changes in 2023
“It is estimated that, as a result of these measures, an additional 45,000 people will qualify for the Disability Tax Credit, and related benefit programs linked to its eligibility, each year. This represents $376 million in additional support over five years, starting in 2021-22.”
Comment: The expansion of the Disability Tax Credit program may prove to be beneficial to many disabled veterans who have failed to qualify up to this point in time as a consequence of the rather restrictive eligibility rules that have pertained to this particular tax credit.
We will keep an eye on the implementation of these budgetary proposals as applicable to the veterans’ community.
5. Ending Homelessness – “COVID-19 has exacerbated many of the hardships faced by Canadians experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. Many have had to choose between the harsh cold of the streets or the risk of an outbreak in shelters.”
“Every year, thousands of veterans access emergency shelters. After their service, every veteran deserves a home.
“Budget 2021 proposes to provide $45 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23, for Employment and Social Development Canada to pilot a program aimed at reducing veteran homelessness through the provision of rent supplements and wrap-around services for homeless veterans such as counselling, addiction treatment, and help finding a job.”
Comment: We will hold the feet of the department to the fire in truly implementing programs which will address veteran homelessness across Canada, which has been identified as a significant crisis in many major cities and communities.
6. Addressing Sexual Misconduct and Gender-based Violence in the Military – In response:
“Budget 2021 proposes to provide $236.2 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, and $33.5 million per year ongoing to the Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada, including $158.5 million over 5 years and $29.9 million per year ongoing funded from existing resources to expand their work to eliminate sexual misconduct and gender-based violence in the military and support survivors. Specifically:
“Enhance internal support services to victims, including access to free, independent legal advice and enabling military members to access services without making a formal complaint.
“Implement new external oversight mechanisms to bring greater independence to the processes of reporting and adjudicating sexual misconduct within the military.
“Undertake other initiatives to enhance institutional capacity to address harassment and violence, including enhancing the military justice system to better respond to allegations of misconduct and support survivors.”
Comment: There is no question that this DND/CAF crisis deserves the highest government priority, as empty platitudes and inadequate commitments to date have proven insufficient to rectify this abysmal embarrassment of leadership in the CAF/DND.
NCVA supports the initiatives contained in the federal budget to address the fundamental need to protect victims of this totally reprehensible sexual misconduct through the establishment of independent legal mechanisms and adjudicative processes.
In conclusion, it must be stated that, although progress has potentially been achieved in a number of areas, given the massive financial expenditures delineated in this year’s federal budget, it is indeed unfortunate that the government did not place a higher emphasis on addressing the longstanding inequities in veterans’ legislation which continue to exist.
It must also be kept in mind that budgetary proposals are only a first step in the legislative process. With a pending election on the immediate horizon, the implementation of these recommendations will need to be closely monitored to ensure the government is able to carry through with the enactment of these specific initiatives that are of benefit to Canadian veterans and their families.
There is little question that the veterans’ community will be focused on the individual federal political parties and their respective election campaign platforms to assess which party is prepared to address outstanding veterans’ concerns.
