It is probably safe to assume that as far as the Canadian public is concerned all disabled veterans, regardless of where and when they served, should have equal access to this country's specialized health-care facilities for veterans.

But as far as the Department of Veterans Affairs is concerned, it seems that some veterans are more equal than others.

It may come as a shock, but Veterans Affairs Canada does not provide full access to its long-term, health-care facilities to younger veterans like myself.

Canadian soldiers evacuate a wounded comrade from Kandahar City in March 2006. (Canadian Press)

In what amounts to age discrimination, Canadian Forces veterans who served after the Korean War — and that is the majority of veterans alive today — are deflected to provincially managed community-based hospitals should they become disabled or require chronic care

Many of these are fine institutions at the leading edge of care and rehabilitation, but they operate well outside the level of attention, management and expertise that has been the hallmark of our veteran health-care facilities.

"I think that Veterans Affairs mandate should move ahead with the times and apply the same standards to everyone," says retired Col. Michel Drapeau, who currently practises law in Ottawa. "Who cares if they are 18, 29 or 93 years of age?"

Still, Veterans Affairs insists that younger, disabled veterans are better served outside of the federally contracted health-care network for veterans.

This network for the so-called traditional veterans is now "designed to support the needs of geriatric residents who normally live there indefinitely," says Janice Summerby, a spokesperson for Veterans Affairs Canada.

"In contrast younger disabled veterans often require programs designed to maximize their capabilities in support of their possible return to their home and community."

Queuing up

Frankly, I am at a loss at how helping younger veterans get better and work their way back into the community is best achieved outside of the focused, specialized care that can come with a federally directed centre.

Veterans Affairs will fully fund any service-related disabilities for today's vets, but in often overtaxed provincial hospitals.

"If younger veterans did have the need for residential care or long-term care as a result of their wartime service we would fully cover the cost of care in any facility that was available where they lived," says Carlos Lourenso, the director of community care programs at Veterans Affairs.

But the problem, according to retired Capt. Sean Bruyea, is that Veterans Affairs has allowed its programs and facilities to fall by the wayside, thus downloading younger Canadian Forces veterans onto the provinces to compete for health care with the general population.

"Why should provinces pay for any injuries caused in serving in National Defence?" asks Bruyea, who now works as an advocate for the rights of injured soldiers and their families.

"The truth is that Veterans Affairs has made injured and disabled veterans fight amongst themselves for a limited pot of money and services. This is inhumane and goes against everything for which the soldiers fought defending, ideals for which soldiers are still dying, such as equality, fairness and justice."

Where are the beds?

Adding injury to the insult, younger veterans are quick to point out that there is no guarantee that the specialized services they may need will be available at community hospitals since there is no mandate for provincial institutions to provide these services at a certain level over and above everything else they have to do.

Bruyea says he was told by Ontario's Community Care Access Centre, which oversees the allocation of long-term care beds in that province, that there is no special allocation of beds specifically for post-Korean War veterans.

"Therefore, it is my understanding that post-Korean War veterans must get in line with everyone else for these community beds," he says. "There are no beds set aside for any veteran who did not serve in World War II or Korea."

But even for those who may be able to access community-based care, the primary complaint, apart from the level of service, remains the lack of knowledge and empathy among the presiding heath-care professionals to the younger, disabled veteran.

"The military is a 24/7 culture and coping with trauma in a civilian environment may result in greater rather than fewer difficulties," says former army intelligence officer Perry Gray, who is currently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder based on his service in the former Yugoslavia.

"I have also been in a local hospital and it was difficult to communicate with some of the staff because they were inexperienced with the military."

Different cultures

A resident of Ottawa, Gray was admitted in January 2005 to a health centre in Guelph, over 500 kilometres away, that specializes in stress and mental health.

"The main drawback" he says, "was that it is all group oriented and I did not like discussing my issues with others. It was very difficult and there was considerable friction between group members."

An example of this difficulty: his group was the first to have all its Canadian Forces members continue into a second week. But he was asked to leave in week three when he became involved in an altercation.

"Very few Canadian Forces clients finish the program because of various issues," Gray says.

In recognition, perhaps, of the inability of regular provincial facilities to adequately service veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, the federal government has recently begun to open up a series of what it calls operational stress injury clinics. Some of these are attached to veteran care centres, but many are not.

Change the perception

Why has this age segregation for Canada's veterans been allowed to happen? Part of the blame rests with the problem of perception.

In my own case, I invariably hear "You seem too young" when I refer to myself as a veteran.

In our public conscious "veteran" inevitably implies someone in their senior years struggling with senior-related health-care issues.

In addition, there is the perception that younger veterans who may have witnessed war in Cyprus, the Persian Gulf, Rwanda, Bosnia or Afghanistan do not fully qualify as bona fide war veterans since our wars could never compare in size to the Second World War.

But of course many of those who served during WWII and Korea never actually saw a shot fired in anger.

The bigger point, though, is that taxpayers are allowing a government department to remain locked into the same priorities and the same clientele that it had 50 or 60 years ago. I doubt we would do that with any other department; times do change. But this seems to be the case with Veterans Affairs.

Now is the time for Veterans Affairs to open its contract beds and related services at veteran health-care facilities to the 20-, 30- and 40-somethings who are limping back from the wars of today and to modify its programs and care at these centres to meet the specific needs of these younger veterans.