Veterans Affairs has some serious work to do.
It has almost 50,000 applications for disability benefits waiting to be processed, meaning some veterans are waiting years to receive needed and deserved support.
Dennis MacKenzie is one of them.
The Canadian Forces veteran’s wait has been three years and running.
“The trouble is, it isn’t only how long it takes,” he told SaltWire. “It’s that everything takes just as long. And when you apply for one thing, you’re not necessarily going to apply for everything (all at once).”
Since his release from the Forces in 2013, MacKenzie has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions such as insomnia and bruxism (grinding or clenching teeth).
Applying for coverage for each of the conditions is compounding his wait.
It is the kind of delay for which those leaving the military are not prepared.
“Lots of guys have to sell their vehicles or mortgage their homes while they are waiting for entitlements to kick in,” MacKenzie said.
This is simply not an acceptable way to treat people who put themselves in harm’s way for this country.
Those who serve either sacrifice, or are willing to sacrifice, everything for Canadians and their country’s cause.
The work, especially in a war zone, can be dangerous and damaging.
Thanking soldiers for taking such risks and helping them recover from PTSD or other conditions brought on by physical impairment and mental stress must be a priority for the federal government.
Having them wait years for support clearly shows it is not.
And it is not as if this bureaucratic snail’s pace is a new issue.
It has been going on for years.
Veterans Affairs aims to make decisions on 80 per cent of applications received within 16 weeks (about three-and-a-half months).
A 2018 report from the Veterans ombudsman found 70 per cent of the applications from existing members and former soldiers took longer than that.
And a September report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer said Veterans Affairs will miss its target of reducing the application backlog to 5,000 by March 2022.
Ottawa is hiring 350 temporary staff to help clear the applications, and that is on top of 160 temporary staff already in place to process these files.
There are calls, including one from the union standing for Veterans Affairs employees, to make these workers permanent.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer said those staff members would need to be retained to keep the backlog from growing. If they were kept on, it is estimated the applications would be cleared by 2023.
Veterans Affairs officials disagree with that projection, but agree there is a need to increase staff.
Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay suggested some of the temporary workers could become permanent.
“If this becomes part of making sure the system works well, I’m sure there will be changes,” he said.
But those changes cannot take years. Keep the staffing in place past 2022 to cut down on the benefits bottleneck and permanently make the process and wait time bearable for our servicemen and women.
Remembrance Day is weeks away.
Too many veterans — the ones affected by the almost 50,000-application backlog — will feel forgotten.
SaltWire Network
