Addressing Veterans' Urgent Needs

The Honourable Dr. Rey D. Pagtakhan, Minister of Veterans Affairs, has announced that he plans to introduce legislation and regulations for consideration in the fall that will address the most urgent needs of Canada's veterans and their families. If approved, the proposed legislation would:

• extend the Veterans Independence Program's (VIP) grounds maintenance and housekeeping services for surviving spouses already in receipt of VIP benefits for as long as they need it. These services would only be available in Canada;
• improve Prisoner-of-War (POW) compensation for veterans who were incarcerated for more than 911 days and provide compensation for the first time to those who were incarcerated between 30 and 89 days. As well, veterans who only receive POW compensation could access VIP and health care benefits. This would be based on need and available in situations where such benefits are not available from a provincial program;
• cover all health needs of war service veterans with a pensioned disability between 48% and 77%, to the extent that other jurisdictions do not, regardless of whether their health needs are related to their pensioned condition. Treatment for health needs not related to a pensioned condition would only be provided in Canada;
• provide VIP and health care benefits to Overseas Service Veterans who reside in Canada and live at home because they are unable to access a priority access bed in a long-term care facility due to a wait list;
• provide long-term care and health benefits to Allied veterans who have lived in Canada for 10 years since the end of the war and are seeking admission to a long-term care facility in Canada for the first time; and
• establish an Education Assistance Program for the children of deceased Canadian Forces veterans who died as a result of their service or had a pensioned disability of 48% or more at the time of their death.

All of these needs were identified in consultation with national veterans' organizations. We will keep you posted on the progress of these proposals in upcoming issues of Salute!