Vets testify to horrendous treatment by Veterans Affairs Canada, offered assisted-suicide
Vets testify to horrendous treatment by Veterans Affairs Canada, offered assisted-suicide
by Dan Fournier, published Saturday, Dec. 3, 09:10 EST on fournier.substack.com
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Canadian veterans appeared before a December 1,2022 parliamentary Veterans Affairs Committee session sharing their frustrations about awful treatment by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) which included ignored claims and offers of assisted-suicide.
When asked by MP Fraser Tolmie who sits on the committee about her experience in dealing with VAC, retired Corporal Christine Gauthier stated that in her case, the battle is “24 years in the making” whereby most of her claims for disability have yet to be addressed. Endless bureaucracy, having to renew claims on a yearly basis, shifting of blame, dealing with outsourced parties such as the Blue Cross, and other inefficiencies all come into play.
Another witness, retired sergeant Christopher Banks stated the delays in responses for his mental help claims by the VAC left him feeling abandoned.
Sergeant Christopher Banks (retired) provides witness testimony on Dec. 1, 2022
Banks specifically told VAC representatives that his mental health had completely collapsed, was again suicidal, and their response: “not good enough.”
Gauthier then stressed that since the VAC had switched to outsourced services, specifically with the Blue Cross, the case agents lost their ability to work with vets directly.
“This privatisation scheme and this outsourcing scheme is just putting care in the hands of people who have a profit-motive, not a care-motive,” Banks stated, adding that it will lead to “further suicides.”
Banks also testified that the VAC’s own ombudsman had removed him from the program for receiving rehabilitation from the health care provider, presumably after a complaint submitted by the distraught veteran.
When asked about how vets have been increasingly offered MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) by MP Luc Desilets, veteran Bruce Moncur had a lot to get off his chest.
Corporal Bruce Moncur (retired) provides witness testimony on Dec. 1, 2022
He explained that it is very common for soldiers with PTSD looking for help from the VAC to be mostly ignored, leading to what he refers to as “sanctuary trauma”, or PTSD’s “ugly cousin.”
Dealing with Veterans Affairs leads them hopeless and suicidal.
Their “Triple-D policy: Delay, Deny, Die”, is the preferred modus operandi, as “dead veterans cost no money,” Moncur concludes, adding the recommendation that a Royal commission be set up to look into this matter.
“With respect to MAiD, I have the matter in my file because I had to face that as well. I have a letter saying that if you are so desperate, madame, we can offer you MAiD,” Gauthier testified adding that she had written a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau about this offer.
Corporal Christine Gauthier (retired) provides witness testimony on Dec. 1, 2022
When pressed by whom had offered her the letter, she confirmed that it was a VAC case manager. A copy of the letter was provided to the committee’s clerk.
Finally, Gauthier touched upon the $570-million contract the VAC recently awarded to an outside company for rehabilitation services.
Current case managers worry that veterans’ lives will be at stake should the government proceed with the plan.
The union representing VAC employees is asking Trudeau to fire Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay who refuses to meet with them to discuss their needs.
Notes:
This article is also published in The Counter Signal as an updated version.
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