Help is on the way for veteran caregivers

The House Veterans Affairs Committee recently released its report on veteran caregivers entitled, “Caregivers: Taking Care of Those who Care for Veterans” and forwarded it to the House for Parliament’s consideration. It is noteworthy that the committee report provides a comprehensive review of all family and caregiver benefits presently found in Canadian veterans’ legislation, and delineates at considerable length the serious deficiencies and shortcomings which currently exist in Veterans Affairs Canada programs and benefits in this context. In the National Council of Veteran Associations’ judgment, the committee recommendations represent a potential major step forward to remedying the insufficient and inequitable treatment of veteran caregivers by Veterans Affairs Canada since the passing of the New Veterans Charter. We are also pleased to advise that our NCVA recommendations have been fully adopted by the committee in relation to replacing the highly inadequate Caregiver Recognition Benefit through the incorporation of the Attendance Allowance eligibility rules (Pension Act) and the more generous Department of National Defence Attendant Care Benefit provisions, together with the expansion of caregiver benefits to better recognize mental health concerns. The following are the recommendations from the ACVA report: Framework recommendation: That the Government of Canada works to ensure that spouses and dependent children of veterans who would be eligible to VAC's rehabilitation program, can access other VAC programs, including financial support and mental health services, in their own right, and with an individual client number. Recommendation 1: That Veterans Affairs Canada publicly promote its mental health assistance service so that veterans, their family members, and other caregivers have a better awareness and understanding of the services available. Recommendation 2: That the Caregiver Recognition Benefit be changed as follows: that the maximum amount of the benefit be the same as the Department of National Defence's Attendant Care Benefit; that the eligibility criteria be the same as those for the Attendance Allowance under the Pension Act; that access be expanded to better reflect the specific challenges faced by family members and other caregivers of veterans who suffer from mental health conditions and brain injuries; and that eligibility be expanded to include caregivers under the age of 18. Recommendation 3: That the services offered as part of the Veterans Independence Program be transferred to the veteran’s spouse and maintained as a grandfathered right after the veteran’s death. Recommendation 4: That Veterans Affairs Canada automatically reimburse professional mental health expenses for the spouse and dependant children of veterans eligible for a rehabilitation plan for mental health concerns, up to $3,000 per person, and that the department’s approval be required only when a claim is submitted that exceeds this amount. Recommendation 5: That Veterans Affairs Canada ensure that every departmental client, whether or not they are case-managed, or have a dedicated employee responsible for their file, be given direct access by phone or email to that employee, and that a group be given responsibility for answering questions from family members and other caregivers who would not be VAC clients. Recommendation 6: That the Veterans Well-being Act be amended to include an obligation to dependent children of living veterans, and that applications to programs created to that effect may be submitted by any parent of the child. The full report can be found at: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-2/ACVA/report-7/. Our NCVA submission (https://www.ncva-cnaac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Submission-to-Standing-Committee-Feb2021-caregivers-EN.pdf) was made to the committee on March 26, 2021, as part and parcel of its deliberations. The following extracts from our report are relevant to the recommendations ultimately made by ACVA: “It is noteworthy that VAC refers to this relatively new Caregiver Recognition Benefit as an indication of the government’s attempt to address the needs of families of disabled veterans. What continues to mystify the veterans’ community is why the government has chosen to “reinvent the wheel” in this area when addressing this need for attendance/caregiving under the New Veterans Charter/Veterans Well‑Being Act. For many decades, Attendance Allowance under the Pension Act (with its five grade levels) has been an effective vehicle in this regard, providing a substantially higher level of compensation and more generous eligibility criteria to satisfy this requirement. In this context, it must be underlined that the spouses or families of seriously disabled veterans often have to give up meaningful employment opportunities to fulfill the caregiving needs of the disabled veteran—$1,000 a month is simply not sufficient recognition of this income loss. VAC should return to the AA provision, which potentially generates in excess of $23,000 per year of non-taxable benefits to those veterans in serious need of attendance, and pay such newly established benefit to the caregiver directly. Canadian Armed Forces infantrymen, pictured Nov. 27, 2019, on the Joint Task Force Operation-IMPACT (JTF-I) boarding a CC-130J Hercules for Iraq to begin their seven-month tour, at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. Photograph courtesy of DND/Cpl. Jerome Lessard, JTF-I It is not without significance that DND, through its “Attendant Care Benefit” program, has provided reimbursement to seriously disabled veterans of the Afghanistan conflict for payments made to an attendant to look after the Canadian Armed Forces member on a full‑time basis. This benefit has been paid to the CAF member at a daily rate of $100 ($3,000 a month—$36,000 a year) for a maximum of 365 days. This policy also implicitly represents a recognition that the financial costs of attendants far exceed the need to address respite. A serious concern remains in the context of such a veteran’s transition from DND to VAC as to the fact that the financial assistance to such families dramatically drops from the DND program to the current VAC Caregiver Recognition Benefit. In addition, we have particularly emphasized with ministerial officials the above-cited concern that there should be more flexibility attached to the current Caregiver Recognition Benefit as, clearly, “one-size-does-not-fit-all.” It is extremely relevant in this area that the grading levels available under the attendance allowance provisions of the Pension Act give the department a certain degree of discretion and flexibility as to the attendance needs of individual veterans. In our experience, there are numerous examples where substantial distinctions exist as to the need for attendance encountered by seriously disabled veterans. NCVA recommendations: VAC should: 1. Incorporate the attendance allowance provisions under the Pension Act into the New Veterans Charter/Veterans Well-being Act to address the need for financial support of family caregivers of disabled veterans and, at the same time, help to rectify the financial disparity between the two statutory regimes. 2. Fine-tune the concept of Attendance Allowance payable to informal caregivers to recognize and compensate the significant effort and economic loss to support injured veterans and ensure access reflects consideration for the effects of mental health injuries. 3. Create a new family benefit for all veterans in receipt of a Disability Award to parallel the Pension Act provisions in relation to spousal and child allowances to recognize the impact of the veteran’s disability on his or her family.” It is also to be noted that the major recommendation from the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman (OVO), more particularly, from the new ombudsperson Nishika Jardine, has been highlighted in the standing committee report vis-à-vis the important principle that caregivers should have an independent right to benefits and well-being provisions rather than the derivative rights which have existed in veterans’ legislation for many years. This shortcoming in veterans’ legislation has prejudiced the rights of veteran caregivers for many years and, quite appropriately, is underlined by the committee as a high-priority recommendation. NCVA clearly stands behind the OVO proposal as part and parcel of our position on improving the overall access to VAC programs and benefits for Canadian caregivers. Insofar as next steps, we will want to ensure that VAC enacts the requisite statutory, regulatory and policy amendments to capture the essence of the standing committee recommendations. In our considered opinion, these measures proposed by the committee, once implemented by government, will have a potentially significant impact on alleviating the “plight of veteran caregivers” which the department has failed to appropriately recognize since the enactment of the New Veterans Charter in 2006, and the subsequent extension to the Veterans Well-Being Act. Our job is clearly to compel VAC to rectify this longstanding void in current veterans’ legislation and adopt a “one veteran-one-standard” approach with respect to veteran caregivers across Canada. Brian Forbes is chairman of the National Council of Veteran Associations & chairman of the Executive Committee of The War Amps. The Hill Times

Help is on the way for veteran caregivers

Our job is clearly to compel VAC to rectify this longstanding void in current veterans’ legislation and adopt a 'one veteran-one-standard' approach with respect to veteran caregivers across Canada.

Veterans’ benefit backlog requires a bold and creative solution

Plight of veteran caregivers in Canada requires immediate government attention

Elephant in the room remains at Veterans Affairs Canada

Veterans’ benefit backlog requires a bold and creative solution

Canada needs a modern, national health data architecture

To address online harms, Canada must commit to digital media literacy

A cure for multiple sclerosis could be just around the corner

Renewable energy is the way to go, says letter writer

Supporting local broadcasters is critical for our democracy

Veterans Affairs’ backlog and wait-times ‘a perfect storm’

Which federal party will stand up for veterans in this election campaign?

Credibility and integrity of the prime minister in question with veterans’ community

Feds betraying commitment to veteran community

Slow process leaves disabled vets in a lurch: ombudsman

News

Get free news updates

Opinion

Submit a guest opinion article

resources

Advertise

subscribe

get help

Help is on the way for veteran caregivers

Our job is clearly to compel VAC to rectify this longstanding void in current veterans’ legislation and adopt a 'one veteran-one-standard' approach with respect to veteran caregivers across Canada.

Get The Policy Briefings Newsletter