Injured soldiers to get improved benefits
Last Updated: Saturday, September 18, 2010 | 9:15 PM ET
CBC News
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The federal government is set to announce greater financial support for some of Canada's wounded soldiers.
The boost in funding, expected to be unveiled Sunday, would help the most seriously injured soldiers as well as those at the junior rank of private whose injuries may prevent them gaining promotions and therefore larger salaries.
A senior government official told CBC News the announcement is meant to better meet the needs of "a new generation of soldiers."
The announcement will revise existing programs.
One deals with earnings replacement. This is the program that provides cash to subsidize or replace what soldiers could have earned if they had not been disabled and limited in their ability to be promoted to a higher rank.
A senior government source told CBC News that under new rules, the minimum compensation benefit for any member of the Canadian Forces would be 75 per cent of a corporal's salary.
This is aimed at privates whose salaries start at roughly $2,600 per month. They would now be compensated as if they earned roughly $4,400 per month.
It's expected the changes will affect 2,320 existing and future veterans over the next five years.
Another program deals with catastrophic injury, which provides benefits to veterans who have suffered the most serious injuries, such as lost limbs.
Feeling of abandonment
Maj. Mark Campbell, who was wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2008, said he has felt abandoned by Veteran Affairs.
"I don't collect any medical pension," he said. "I got the $267,000 and a handshake and that's it," said Campbell, one of many soldiers who have been calling for better compensation.
Campbell said the current funding is inadequate.
"It just needs to be fair," he said.
Last month, Pat Stogran, Canada's outgoing ombudsman for veterans, publicly slammed the federal government's treatment of servicemen and women, complaining that his work been impeded by a bureaucracy "that was deliberately obstructive and deceptive."
Stogran, whose contract as ombudsmen was not renewed, has been critical of policies including the replacement of pensions with lump-sum payments and disability stipend.
He has also claimed the department has adopted a "penny-pinching, insurance-company mentality" toward its clients.
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