New announcement: Minister and Ombudsman on Roy Green Show Saturday October 12 3:00pm

Minister and Ombudsman on Roy Green Show Saturday October 12 3:00pm

Hi All

I was just speaking with Roy Green and he indicated that the Minister and the Ombudsman will be speaking on the Roy Green Show on Saturday October 12 at 3:00pm.

There should be opportunity to rebut what will likely be the usual bureaucratic parroting.... and perhaps a nugget or two of insensitivity such as comparing military service in a combat zone to the work of community policing or firefighting or paramedics.

Catch the program on any of the Corus Network stations such as:

http://roygreenshow.com/

http://www.cknw.com/cknwwoundedveterans/

http://www.640toronto.com/

Please distribute widely.

All the best for Thanksgiving everyone.
Sean

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: Psychiatrist testifies he was not allowed to talk to veteran suffering PTSD

Psychiatrist testifies he was not allowed to talk to veteran suffering PTSD

DENE MOORE

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — The Canadian Press

Published Wednesday, Oct. 09 2013, 9:37 PM EDT

Last updated Wednesday, Oct. 09 2013, 9:42 PM EDT

The psychiatrist and former soldier who was treating Greg Matters for post-traumatic stress disorder asked RCMP if he could speak to the former peacekeeper as he was surrounded by heavily armed police officers at his rural British Columbia farm, a coroner's inquest into his death heard Wednesday.

Dr. Greg Passey said he received a call the evening of Sept. 10, 2012, from an officer who said Matters was inside a cabin and threatening to shoot members of the emergency response team who had formed a perimeter outside.

The officers were there to arrest Matters for assaulting his brother during an altercation about 40 hours prior.

"I said something to the effect that you don't want him backed into a corner where he does not feel he has any options. If you push him into that situation, he will defend himself. I was fairly certain of that," Passey testified.

They discussed potential strategies to defuse the situation unfolding on the property where Matters lived with his mother near Prince George, B.C.

"All the while I was expecting to be able to talk to him."

That didn't happen.

The officer ended the call, suggesting that a surrender had been negotiated. He heard nothing until the next day, when he saw on the news that Matters, 40, a 15-year soldier who had served as a peacekeeper in Bosnia, had been fatally shot by RCMP.

"It is my true opinion and conviction that had I been able to speak to Greg that night, I could have talked him out," Passey said.

Several family members fled the inquest room in tears as a forensic pathologist demonstrated where two bullets entered Matters's back, exiting through his chest. A third bullet remained in his body, jurors were told.

Passey, the head of the B.C. Operational Stress Injury Clinic in Vancouver, which treats soldiers and police, past and present, explained how Matters developed PTSD.

He was assaulted twice by members of his unit in 1995, Passey said. Matters filed a complaint but he was the one charged, and he believed that was because another soldier involved in the beating was of a higher rank.

Later, he had several run-ins with RCMP, in New Brunswick where he was based and later in Prince George. On one occasion, officers from the Prince George detachment came into his home at gunpoint, at night, to do a "wellness check."

"He never felt he was being heard. He never felt he was getting justice," Passey said, explaining why police, and a sense of injustice, would trigger Matters's PTSD.

His verbal threats — against an estranged brother, police, the police complaint commissioner, a former therapist — were "primitive and immature" responses, the psychiatrist said.

"You need to realize nowhere in his record has Greg, that I'm aware of, ever instigated any physical attack on anybody," Passey said.

Matters left the military with an honourable discharge in 2009. Unable to work, he was surviving on a $123 a month military pension.

His financial troubles, chronic pain from a back injury suffered in Bosnia, and the conflict with his brother contributed to his illnesses, Passey said.

Andrew Kemp, the lawyer for the B.C. Attorney General and RCMP, asked Passey about his confidence that Matters would not act on his long list of threats.

"You would agree with the proposition though that even though he had not yet, to your knowledge, acted on any of his threats, there's always a first time?" Kemp asked.

"One has to look at past behaviour as a method to predict future behaviour," Passey replied.

"Greg had multiple opportunities to act in an aggressive manner toward individuals, and I had no history that it ever occurred, so it was unlikely he was going to act on those threats because in between, once he settled down, the threats dissipated."

"Unlikely is different than never, though," Kemp said.

Kemp pointed out that Matters's previous therapist, who treated him for two years, took threats against her seriously enough to call police.

Under questioning from jurors, Passey said Matters's PTSD made it very difficult for police to deal with him.

"It made it very difficult for both parties in this," he said.

Asked if he had any recommendations that might prevent similar deaths in the future, Passey said every police officer should be trained to deal with PTSD and other trauma-related disorders.

"This should be taught at Depot and should be something that's taught every time an officer needs to requalify," he said.

"They need to requalify on regular basis with regards to baton use, Tasers, firearms, etcetera. There should be a course specifically to educate officers about this disorder."

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

Harold Leduc response to Minister's Fantino National Post Article

From: Harold Leduc [mailto:duke@hkpdesign.com]
Sent: October-08-13 11:14 AM
To: Minister-Ministre Minister-Ministre; Jacques Fauteux; Prime Minister/Premier Ministre
Cc:
Subject: Re: Article - National Post

Dear Minister,

Thank you for the interesting email. In future I would appreciate you addressing your comments to me personally if you are going to use my email address. I've copied your Chief of Staff Jacques Fauteux, a Naval veteran to provide veterans another avenue to reach you.

The fact of the matter is that the tangible misinformation is coming from your, the Prime Minister's and the Veterans Ombudsman's office. I know these offices have received numerous complaint by wronged veterans but have done little about them. To set the record straight, Canada treats it's veterans well, it's the Conservative Government that doesn't.

I was at the table when Government robbed disabled veterans of Pension Act life long disability benefits to pay for the programs of the New Veterans Charter (NVC) and heard your Government's promises in opposition to fix the problems...we're still waiting. Your review falls short of the scope and objectivity required.

You're not accurately representing the $4.7 billion figure. Isn't that figure VAC's total operating budget including employee wages?

You know that your Ombudsman misrepresented the purpose of the Pension Act in his recent report to downplay it's significance, just like you are doing. You know that he did not provide Canadians with all the relevant facts by purposefully omitting the most generous option currently available of collecting Pension Act benefits for disability and NVC benefits to have other needs met.

You're not addressing your insensitive comments on the Bill Good show that has angered veterans to the point that they are calling for your removal.

You're not addressing this Government's use information gained from inappropriate privacy breaches to re-injure veterans disabilities.

Veterans are extremely angry with the disrespect they get from from Veterans Review and Appeal Board. You've not addressed why you're keeping the Chair in place after he was caught misspending public funds and misleading the Parliamentary Committee on the Board's denial culture. You're also not addressing the bad behaviour of the Board members who disrespect veterans at hearings, ignore the law and Federal Court guidance to deny rightful benefits and place evidence on veterans files without telling anyone, not to mention the Board breaching veterans privacy.

I could go on but will stop there to say that this Government has to stop misleading Canadians on how they are mistreating veterans and mocking our service and sacrific. Canadians will know that veterans are being taken seriously when you are removed from office as Minister and the appeal of the NVC lawsuit is withdrawn. This Government has proven time and again that veterans will only find justice and fairness in the courts.

Please contact me at (250) 896-3738 if I could provide further information.

Sincerely,

Harold Leduc

On 2013-10-08, at 4:58 AM, Minister-Ministre Minister-Ministre wrote:

Dear Veteran / Cher(ère) vétéran,

(For your information / Pour information)

There exists a tangle of misinformation regarding how Canada treats its men and women who have served in uniform - as well as regarding the legislation known as the New Veterans Charter. Improvements made by our government, and validated by the latest Veterans Ombudsman report, indicate that while important gaps do need to be filled, a majority of Canada's veterans receive the support and care that they need.

Almost eight years ago, a unanimous Parliament endorsed wholesale change to veterans' support and services. Since implementing the New Veterans Charter in 2006, our government has invested almost $4.7-billion in new funding to enhance veterans benefits, programs and services. Today, seriously injured veterans receive significant financial support up front, and each month, in addition to having access to world-class treatment from some of the most experienced medical professionals in Canada.

As the Ombudsman notes in his recently released actuarial analysis, "the Enhanced [New Veterans] Charter is focused on wellness and rehabilitation, while the Pension Act focuses on compensation." Our approach is not to simply throw money at a problem or a person. We are focused on providing the best support and care for veterans and their families.

Canadians can and should be proud of the commitment they have shown through their parliamentarians to support Canadian veterans who are injured in the line of duty. According to the Veterans Ombudsman's report, the modern framework now in place to assist our former men and women in uniform "in lieu of a monthly pension cheque, [provides] a suite of benefits and services that encourages wellness and rehabilitation and is consistent with the principles of modern disability management."

The Ombudsman is also prudent enough to provide a caveat: "Frequently, comparisons are made only between the Pensions Act monthly disability pension and the New Veterans Charter lump sum disability award without taking into context the overall suite of monetary and non-monetary benefits provided under the New Veterans Charter. Such 'cherry picking' does not provide an objective view of how all the benefits come together to provide a particular effect."

Our government also introduced significant legislative improvements to the New Veterans Charter in 2011 that were praised in the Ombudsman's report as having "had a positive effect." We incorporated over 160 recommendations that were determined after wide consultation. In particular, we implemented enhancements to the New Veterans Charter that make it easier to qualify for the Permanent Impairment Allowance (PIA) and the Exceptional Incapacity Allowance, along with a series of other changes that boost the transition of a veteran to civilian life.

Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, the changes made by our government allow for a veteran to have increased choice. They can either receive a one-time lump-sum payment; an annual installment over the number of years of a veteran's choosing; or a combination of these two payment options.

Our government continues to take positive action on behalf of veterans. Last week, I announced that the government of Canada will support a comprehensive review of the New Veterans Charter, including all enhancements, with a special focus placed on the most seriously injured, support for families and the delivery of programs by Veterans Affairs Canada. I call on parliamentarians to focus on how we can better assist veterans. This parliamentary review, guided by representatives elected by the people of Canada, will provide an appropriate forum where all voices can be heard, including and especially those of veterans, their family members, other interested individuals and subject-matter experts. That is where we can work together to enact appropriate change for veterans and their families.
In truth, the very reason for the Ombudsman's work is to support just such a review, and not supersede it as a few critics have falsely claimed.

Our government is committed to the veteran who has sacrificed so much for their country. We will continue to work through Veterans Affairs Canada, with relevant stakeholders, community and families to ensure that we ably meet needs while also being mindful of our responsibility to the Canadian taxpayer.

Our veterans, and Canadians, deserve no less.

Sincerely / Cordialement,

Julian Fantino PC, MP / CP, député
Minister of Veterans Affairs / Ministre des Anciens Combattants

Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

http://canadianveteransadvocacy.com/Board2/index.php

New announcement: Minister Fantino to Announce Changes to Help Canada’s Veterans Access Vocational

Minister Fantino to Announce Changes to Help Canada's Veterans Access Vocational and Training Services

Veterans Affairs Canada
Media Advisory
October 7, 2013

Toronto – The Honourable Julian Fantino, Minister of Veterans Affairs, will make an announcement about cutting red tape for Veterans.
He will be joined by Guy Parent, Canada's Veterans Ombudsman.

Date: Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Location: School of Applied Technology, Building N, Room N117
Humber College
205 Humber College Boulevard
Toronto, ON

Time: 10:00 a.m.

Please note: Minister Fantino will be available at Building FX (Humber
Daycare) at 9:15 a.m. for a photo opportunity prior to the announcement.

– 30 –

Media inquiries:

Janice Summerby
Media Relations Advisor
Veterans Affairs Canada
613-992-7468

Joshua Zanin
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs
613-996-4649

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

Legion calls Conservative position in defending veterans lawsuit 'reprehensible'

Legion calls Conservative position in defending veterans lawsuit 'reprehensible'

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/legion-calls-conservative-position-in-defending-veterans-lawsuit-reprehensible-1.1486840#ixzz2h3kXhNgJ

The Canadian Press
Published Monday, October 7, 2013 12:22PM EDT

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government is facing a revolt among veterans groups for claiming it is not bound by the promises of previous governments in the care of wounded soldiers.

The Royal Canadian Legion is describing the government's position as "reprehensible."

The government, which intends to defend against a class-action lawsuit by veterans of the war in Afghanistan, says it's unfair to bind current and future governments to promises that date back to the First World War.

Just before the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, then-prime minister Robert Borden said it was the government's "first duty" to acknowledge the sacrifices of soldiers and ensure care for the wounded.

Gordon Moore, the legion's Dominion president, says the Conservative government is trying to shed its decades-old moral commitment to troops who defend the country -- something that could affect future conflicts.

Moore says care varies widely between regular force and reserve veterans in Canada, which is why the legion is pushing for a universal standard for the wounded and injured.

Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

http://canadianveteransadvocacy.com/Board2/index.php

New announcement: Veterans want Minister removed and Government to withdraw their appeal

Veterans want Minister removed and Government to withdraw their appeal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7 October 2013

VICTORIA, BC – Veterans across the country are calling for the immediate removal of Julian Fantino as Minister of Veterans Affairs and the immediate withdrawal of Government's frivolous appeal of the New Veterans Charter lawsuit so the courts can determine veterans right's free of partisan party politics.

In a recent interview on CKNW's Bill Good Show, Minister Fantino said:

"...not every veteran is at the same level of service to country..." he also said "...I spent 40 years in law enforcement, I too have served. I've been in the trenches and heard the guns go off. I guess I can also put myself and other colleagues, firefighters and other police officers who put themselves in harms way every day in the same category..."

"How insensitive! Just when you think this Government can't sink any lower it appoints a controversial ex-cop as Minister of Veterans Affairs and now he's belittled veteran's service and sacrifice. Minister Fantino knows that unlike police and firefighters, disabilities are a calculated part of military service because members can't refuse to work at risk without serious consequences including life imprisonment, even if it means losing their lives because of the unique unlimited liability nature of military service" Harold Leduc says.

Fantino recently announced a review of the controversial New Veterans Charter (NVC) then made the above comments. At the same time Government lawyers filed a notice to appeal the BC Supreme Court decision that allows six Afghanistan veterans to move towards certifying a class action lawsuit on the deficiencies in the NVC. The lawsuit is put forward pro bono by a top-notch team of Vancouver lawyers from Miller Thompson LLP supported by the Equitas Society.

Government lawyers previously told the Court that government doesn't have an obligation to care for disabled veterans and they are no better than recipients of welfare.

"This Government works so hard to deceive Canadians on it's abuse of veterans' rights that Minister Fantino, his colleague Erin O'Toole and Government lawyers don't seem to be able to remember which version of the truth they are supposed to tell on any given day. By mocking veteran's service and sacrifice he's angered the very people he is supposed to protect including Canada's most severely disabled. He's disgraced himself and our Country. Both he and the Government's appeal have to go. Veterans are fed up with this Government's ongoing disrespect" says Leduc.

###

If you would like more information on this topic or would like to schedule an interview with Harold Leduc, please call at (250) 896-3738 or email at duke@hkpdesign.com

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: Deadly dispute: Calling for accountability from the RCMP after vet shot dead

Deadly dispute: Calling for accountability from the RCMP after former soldier shot dead

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/deadly-dispute-calling-for-accountability-from-the-rcmp-after-former-soldier-shot-dead-1.1483419#ixzz2grsNJz53

W5
Published Saturday, October 5, 2013 9:30AM EDT

When Greg Matters signed up for the Canadian Army in 1994, he accepted that one day he might end up in the line of fire and not survive. He never expected to die on home soil.

But on Sept. 10th, 2012, he was shot to death in a bizarre showdown with an RCMP Emergency Response Team on the farm where he was raised near Prince George, BC.

"None of it was necessary," said his psychiatrist, Dr. Greg Passey, in an interview with W5.

"He was alone on the farm, no firearms. Nobody was being threatened. They could have waited a month. Could have starved him out, and he'd be alive today."

"I just don't understand how a domestic issue got so serious," said Greg's sister, Tracey, who lives in Australia and rushed back to Canada when she learned her brother was dead. "It's such an overreaction."

Greg had served as a peacekeeper in Bosnia and left the army with PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"He had all the classic signs," said Passey. "The nightmares, the anxiety, the panic attacks, all of those things."

A quiet man who was known for his courtesy, Greg was a changed man – paranoid and short tempered. That led to run-ins and threats of violence to the police. It was all made worse by a feud with his brother, Trevor, over land they had bought together. It got so bad, they took out restraining orders on each other.

It came to a head early in the morning of Sept. 9th, 2012, when Greg chased his brother off his mother`s property. Greg followed him, stopped his brother`s vehicle and the two had a brief scuffle.

When Greg got back to his house, he called 911 and asked the police for help. When no cruisers showed up, Greg became frustrated and called 911 five times over the next two hours.

At this point, events took a bizarre twist. Police decided Greg was the agitator and set out to arrest him. Suddenly, Greg, the man who asked police for help had become their target.

That evening, police arrived at the house where he lived with his mother asked him to meet them on the road.

"Greg did start to walk out to the road," said Lorraine Matters, his mother. "Once he saw the police cars out here, he came back and told me, Mom, I'm so afraid, I can't walk out to the road."

Greg's refusal to meet with police raised the tension and set off a train of events that would end in tragedy 26 hours later.

Frightened and confused, Greg headed for a cabin on the property. It was his refuge, a quiet place he came to when he was upset and wanted to be alone.

But police believed Greg had a gun.

He didn't.

Nevertheless, they deployed a heavily armed Emergency Response Team to arrest him.

Meanwhile, his mother told police she would find him and bring him to the station in the morning.

When Lorraine tried to drive to the cabin to help Greg, the police arrested her. She claims that one officer grabbed her by the neck and dragged her along on her back.

"I was begging for them not to hurt my son. So when he dragged me, he put me in a sitting position and then took his knee and just drove me so hard in my chest that I didn't know if I'd ever get up off the ground."

Within hours, Greg was dead.

"It's just such an overreaction," said his sister, Tracey. "Why was it escalated to such a high degree? It does not make sense to me whatsoever."

The case ended up on the desk of Richard Rosenthal, the Chief Civilian Director of the Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia.

"Our job is to look at cases involving death or serious harm at the hands of police," he told W5 in an interview. "And determine whether or not an officer may have committed an offense."

RCMP officers who had been on the scene told investigators that Greg had threatened them with a hatchet, so Rosenthal ruled that they had shot Greg lawfully in self-defence.

But Rosenthal's mandate was narrow and there were other issues he could not investigate that bothered him.

"Certainly legitimate questions were raised about the decision making process, about why the ERT was deployed," he said.

Those questions prompted Rosenthal to send the case to the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP.

"The police were not dealing with a hardened criminal here," said Cameron Ward, the lawyer hired by the Matters family to handle their case.

"They knew who he was, they knew what they were dealing with and it seems to me a much more measured calm, compassionate response would have been appropriate."

There was also the issue of Lorraine Matters' treatment by police. That became a separate complaint to the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP.

"Isn't the mother an ally who can help you de-escalate the situation?" said David Eby who was legal counsel for the BC Civil Liberties Association before his election to the provincial legislature.

"It's pretty clear to me that she wasn't seen as such by the ERT," Erby said.

But Greg's family has little faith their case will get a fair hearing from the Commission for Public Complaints.

"I believe it's a situation where the RCMP will be investigating the RCMP," said Tracey Matters. "From what I've heard from other cases, it's one of the most unsatisfactory processes."

The BC Coroners Service will also hold a public inquest into the death of Greg Matters. But the jury can only make recommendations to prevent a future tragedy. They cannot point a finger of blame.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/deadly-dispute-calling-for-accountability-from-the-rcmp-after-former-soldier-shot-dead-1.1483419#ixzz2grsoAaDa

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.