Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC)

Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) provides services and benefits to qualified veterans, members of the Canadian Forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, their families, and some civilians. A former member of the Canadian Armed Forces who successfully underwent basic training and was honorably released is considered a veteran.

VAC is a department of the Canadian government. The Veteran Affairs portfolio comprises three sections: the department, the Veterans Review and Appeal Board, and the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman. The department reports to the minister of Veterans Affairs, while the two other sections report to parliament via the minister of Veterans Affairs.

VAC aspires to express Canada’s gratitude to veterans for the contributions they have made to the development of the nation. Through its services, it also honors the sacrifices the veterans made to defend freedom and pursue world peace. It strives to exemplify the principles demonstrated by its veterans: integrity, respect, service and commitment, accountability, and teamwork.

Brief History

In Canada, pension benefits were first granted to veterans in 1885, following the Northwest Rebellion. After World War I, benefits were expanded to help veterans and their families transition from military to civilian life. Veterans of the First World War were given preference in appointments to civil service jobs, and disabled veterans were given vocational training. Parliament passed a Pension Act in 1919, and other benefits were legislated within the next few years. Nonetheless, social and economic disorder resulted from the release of masses of Canadians from the military after the war.

Recognizing its earlier mistakes, in 1944, near the end of WWII, parliament created the Department of Veterans Affairs. The department’s goal was to coordinate all government veteran-related activities. The benefits it developed, called the Veterans Charter, were directed toward helping veterans help themselves and one another.

Following the Korean War in the 1950s, the Veterans Charter was expanded to grant benefits to that war’s veterans. However, the charter was not similarly expanded to meet the needs of veterans of peacekeeping missions and Cold War assignments in the following decades. The Department of Veterans Affairs became relegated only to distributing health-care benefits to veterans and was not involved in any other veterans’ activities.

In the 1990s, more veterans were created as Canada became involved in military operations at home and abroad. Veterans’ organizations were angry with the department’s failure to meet the needs of these new veterans, many of whom had been injured. The decade was marked by veterans’ disenchantment with Canada’s poor treatment of veterans.

Finally, in May 2005, changes were implemented. Parliament passed Bill C-45, which became known as the New Veterans Charter (NVC). The goal of the NVC was to provide assistance, compensation, and services to Canadian Forces members and veterans and to amend other acts. Early intervention and rehabilitation were cornerstones of the NVC’s mission of helping veterans become contributing members of society. According to the minister of Veterans Affairs, the NVC was a living document that could be modified as the needs of veterans evolved.

Overview

Veterans Affairs Canada provides a variety of services to veterans of Canada’s armed forces. Some services are intended to help veterans following an injury or while they transition to civilian life. Other services help veterans and their families throughout their lifetimes.

Categories of services offered are: health and well-being, financial support, support after an illness or injury, transition to civilian life, information and resources. Services run the gamut from financial aid to pay for schooling to treatment for addictions.

Controversies

Since the inception of the NVC in 2005, veterans have complained about the poor quality of services offered by the VAC and the insufficiency of some of the benefits it gives. Over the years, they also objected to the failure of the parliament to amend the NVC to new needs of veterans that arose.

One of the veterans’ groups’ main complaints was the NVC’s provision to replace injured veterans’ life-long monthly payments with a lump sum. Through this move, injured and disabled veterans lost between 30 and 90 percent of their entitlements. When veterans took the government to court over this action, the government argued that it had no special obligations to veterans. Outrage ensued when the public learned that the government had spent $700,000 fighting the lawsuit.

Veterans also criticized parliament’s 2013 decision to close down nine Veterans Affairs offices. Eighty-nine employees were laid off, and the resulting shortage of employees caused more service failures for veterans in need.

In 2014, a report by the auditor general found a 24 percent refusal rate for veterans who applied for disability benefits. It also reported that veterans with mental health problems wait at least four months to receive assistance. Mental health problems among veterans returning from Afghanistan were prevalent, but many were deemed ineligible for free treatment.

An additional sharp criticism related to allocation of funds. In 2014, it came to light that Veterans Affairs Canada did not use a large portion of the funds the government allotted to the department because of either inefficiency or a reluctance to spend all of the funds. Between 2006 and 2014, VAC returned $1.13 billion of unspent funds to the federal treasury. Detractors of VAC say that money should have been used to improve veterans’ benefits and services.

Furthermore, between 2009 and 2014, nine hundred jobs were cut at Veterans Affairs, meaning one-quarter of the entire staff was laid off. Lack of staff led to a backlog of six to eight months, during which time many veterans were not served.

Veterans’ groups were generally disgruntled with the responses of the Conservative government under Prime Minister Steven Harper, who held the position from February 2006 to November 2015. During Harper’s tenure, branches of the government studied and made recommendations on the NVC, but they implemented no changes that were satisfactory to veterans’ groups. For example, the lump sum system was not reviewed every two years as originally planned. Instead, it underwent a minor audit in 2011 and a full review in 2013, but no real changes were made.

In October 2015, when a new Liberal government under Justin Trudeau won the election, veterans expressed satisfaction with the tone of the new government. During the election campaign, Trudeau promised to help veterans and expressed interest in building bridges with them. He vowed to restore the monthly pension option, improve education and training opportunities, reinstate jobs in VAC, reopen nine VAC offices, and expand mental health services for veterans. Veterans felt hopeful that those promises would be fulfilled. Trudeau stepped down in 2024, allowing a new government to form.

Bibliography

"8 Veterans Affairs Employees to Remain with 17,000 Cases." CBC News 29 Nov. 2013. Print.

Brewster, Murray. "Veterans Affairs Handed Back $1.1-billion in Unspent Funds: Documents." The Globe and Mail 20 Nov. 2014, Politics sec. Web. 21 Dec. 2015.

Brewster, Murray. "Tories Say Dearth of Data on Veterans Led to $1.1-billion Lapse, despite Report." The Globe and Mail 15 May 2015. Print.

Cramm, Heidi, Deborah Norris, Linna Tam-Seto, Maya Eichler, and Kimberley Smith-Evans. "Making Military Families in Canada a Research Priority." Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health 1.2 (2015): 8-12. Print.

Galloway, Gloria. "Veterans Affairs Staff Cut despite Warnings from Managers since 2009." The Globe and Mail 16 Apr. 2015, Politics sec. Web. 21 Dec. 2015.

"Historical Sheets." Government of Canada, 6 Sept. 2022, www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/classroom/fact-sheets. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

Ivison, John. "Auditor General's Report Slams Government for failing Veterans on Mental Health Services." National Post 25 Nov. 2014, Canadian Politics sec. Print.

Russell, Andrew. "How the Liberals Plan to Help Canada’s Veterans." Global News 10 Nov. 2015. Web. 21 Dec. 2015.

"Veterans Fighting Service Cuts Felt Disrespected at Fantino Meeting." CBC News 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Dec. 2015.