http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Afghan+vets+widows+fallen+abandoned+government+claims+group/7518414/story.html
Afghan vets and widows of fallen ‘abandoned’ by government, claims group
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Afghan+vets+widows+fallen+abandoned+government+claims+group/7518414/story.html#ixzz2BjdrfqkS
:brit poppy:
OTTAWA — The federal government has abandoned its “sacred obligation” to physically and mentally wounded Afghan veterans and their families and condemned them to substandard lives, a veterans’ advocacy group charged Thursday.
“We are proud to have served our country,” 42-year-old disabled veteran David Desjardins told a news conference, “no one has the right to portray us as a burden on society.”
Desjardins, who has been unable to find work since being medically discharged from the Canadian Forces two years ago, said it is hypocritical of federal government ministers and military leaders to heap praise on veterans on Remembrance Day “when they have clearly turned their backs on us and continue to demonstrate this on a daily basis.”
The former military police officer — a veteran of Bosnia and Afghanistan — said he has applied for numerous jobs both in government and the private sector but says interviewers invariably focus on his inability to walk.
“I’m tired of interviews focusing on what I can’t do rather than what I can do,” said Desjardins whose 18-year-old son recently joined the military. “People, especially veterans, are not defined by our disabilities. We are hard wired to overcome adversity, adapt and carry on.”
Desjardins was one of several people at a Parliament Hill news conference describing their struggles to get even basic needs met by Veterans Affairs Canada — a situation predicted to significantly worsen for thousands of veterans if the Conservative government goes ahead with deep cuts to the department.
“This is the reality of the situation, not the sound bite you get from the government,” said Canadian Veterans Advocacy president Michael Blais, “Our government has abandoned these disabled veterans and their families to a substandard life, substandard compensation and pain and toil. These veterans deserve to be treated with the same damn level of respect that we have accorded veterans in this nation since its conception.”
Memorial Cross widow Jacqueline Girouard, whose husband Robert was killed by a Taliban suicide bomber during the bloody Operation Medusa in November 2006, said many war widows and their families are struggling.
“We didn’t do this out of choice but out of the necessity to survive,” she said. “My loss and my children’s loss was forced upon us by a war that took away from us the only person we had come to rely on.
“I don’t know who makes (government) policies,” she said, addressing the federal government. “But I can tell you it is not people who have experienced the loss of a husband or father who was taken by a war that we have yet to fully understand as a nation. “I’m not here to accuse,” she added, “because I know the faces behind Veterans Affairs have a heart. But I also know they are held captive by their own policies — policies that require the support of a nation to change.”
Girouard said Veterans Affairs gave her two years to decide whether to continue her education — an example, she added, of policies that often fail to take into account the emotional state of families.
“For three years,” she said, “I did not want to live. I was numb. I was with my husband for 31 years, since I was 15. He would be sad to know that I was left alone to take care of myself because he went and did what he thought was right. How can you allow our loved ones go fight for this country believing that you will help protect their wives and children if something happens?
“You use the fallen to benefit your cause,” she added, “but what do you give in return? (My husband’s) heart that I loved so much has stopped beating; his laughing voice I will never hear again … his eyes that I sought comfort in; his ears that will never hear the sound of his grandchildren calling his name. You couldn’t pay me, my children or my grandchildren enough to replace what you have taken away but you can help me meet their expectations.”
Girouard urged the federal government to be more responsive to widows and their children.
“Help these ladies when they ask because if they didn’t need help they wouldn’t ask,” she said. “Never forget they seek independence but never forget they have pride and loyalty. We want to be strong but sometimes you just need help.
Tracy Kerr, whose triple amputee husband William lost his limbs two years ago in an IED explosion, told reporters that even the most basic requests to Veterans Affairs get bogged down in paper work.“We make requests but they end up on desks waiting for signatures and approvals,” she said. “We’re waiting for a front door that would give him an entrance and exit but it still hasn’t been approved. Approval after approval … we’re waiting.”
NDP Veterans Affairs critic Peter Stoffer urged the government to re-think its cuts to Veterans Affairs which, he said, is being cut proportionately more than any other federal department.
“This is a man who sacrificed his limbs for this country,” said Stoffer. “You’d think the government would say ‘whatever it takes we’ll help you. We’ll do it now and fill out the paper work later. But no. Years later they’re still waiting.”
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Afghan+vets+widows+fallen+abandoned+government+claims+group/7518414/story.html#ixzz2BjdkDOUU
Afghan vets and widows of fallen ‘abandoned’ by government, claims group
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Afghan+vets+widows+fallen+abandoned+government+claims+group/7518414/story.html#ixzz2BjdrfqkS
:brit poppy:
OTTAWA — The federal government has abandoned its “sacred obligation” to physically and mentally wounded Afghan veterans and their families and condemned them to substandard lives, a veterans’ advocacy group charged Thursday.
“We are proud to have served our country,” 42-year-old disabled veteran David Desjardins told a news conference, “no one has the right to portray us as a burden on society.”
Desjardins, who has been unable to find work since being medically discharged from the Canadian Forces two years ago, said it is hypocritical of federal government ministers and military leaders to heap praise on veterans on Remembrance Day “when they have clearly turned their backs on us and continue to demonstrate this on a daily basis.”
The former military police officer — a veteran of Bosnia and Afghanistan — said he has applied for numerous jobs both in government and the private sector but says interviewers invariably focus on his inability to walk.
“I’m tired of interviews focusing on what I can’t do rather than what I can do,” said Desjardins whose 18-year-old son recently joined the military. “People, especially veterans, are not defined by our disabilities. We are hard wired to overcome adversity, adapt and carry on.”
Desjardins was one of several people at a Parliament Hill news conference describing their struggles to get even basic needs met by Veterans Affairs Canada — a situation predicted to significantly worsen for thousands of veterans if the Conservative government goes ahead with deep cuts to the department.
“This is the reality of the situation, not the sound bite you get from the government,” said Canadian Veterans Advocacy president Michael Blais, “Our government has abandoned these disabled veterans and their families to a substandard life, substandard compensation and pain and toil. These veterans deserve to be treated with the same damn level of respect that we have accorded veterans in this nation since its conception.”
Memorial Cross widow Jacqueline Girouard, whose husband Robert was killed by a Taliban suicide bomber during the bloody Operation Medusa in November 2006, said many war widows and their families are struggling.
“We didn’t do this out of choice but out of the necessity to survive,” she said. “My loss and my children’s loss was forced upon us by a war that took away from us the only person we had come to rely on.
“I don’t know who makes (government) policies,” she said, addressing the federal government. “But I can tell you it is not people who have experienced the loss of a husband or father who was taken by a war that we have yet to fully understand as a nation. “I’m not here to accuse,” she added, “because I know the faces behind Veterans Affairs have a heart. But I also know they are held captive by their own policies — policies that require the support of a nation to change.”
Girouard said Veterans Affairs gave her two years to decide whether to continue her education — an example, she added, of policies that often fail to take into account the emotional state of families.
“For three years,” she said, “I did not want to live. I was numb. I was with my husband for 31 years, since I was 15. He would be sad to know that I was left alone to take care of myself because he went and did what he thought was right. How can you allow our loved ones go fight for this country believing that you will help protect their wives and children if something happens?
“You use the fallen to benefit your cause,” she added, “but what do you give in return? (My husband’s) heart that I loved so much has stopped beating; his laughing voice I will never hear again … his eyes that I sought comfort in; his ears that will never hear the sound of his grandchildren calling his name. You couldn’t pay me, my children or my grandchildren enough to replace what you have taken away but you can help me meet their expectations.”
Girouard urged the federal government to be more responsive to widows and their children.
“Help these ladies when they ask because if they didn’t need help they wouldn’t ask,” she said. “Never forget they seek independence but never forget they have pride and loyalty. We want to be strong but sometimes you just need help.
Tracy Kerr, whose triple amputee husband William lost his limbs two years ago in an IED explosion, told reporters that even the most basic requests to Veterans Affairs get bogged down in paper work.“We make requests but they end up on desks waiting for signatures and approvals,” she said. “We’re waiting for a front door that would give him an entrance and exit but it still hasn’t been approved. Approval after approval … we’re waiting.”
NDP Veterans Affairs critic Peter Stoffer urged the government to re-think its cuts to Veterans Affairs which, he said, is being cut proportionately more than any other federal department.
“This is a man who sacrificed his limbs for this country,” said Stoffer. “You’d think the government would say ‘whatever it takes we’ll help you. We’ll do it now and fill out the paper work later. But no. Years later they’re still waiting.”
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Afghan+vets+widows+fallen+abandoned+government+claims+group/7518414/story.html#ixzz2BjdkDOUU
