Canadian Vets Rally For Disability Benefits

Thousands of Canadian war veterans are taking their fight nationwide, including all the way to Parliament Hill Saturday.

The vets are also demonstrating in front of some Member of Parliament’s offices, along with a rally in front of Halifax’s war memorial.

Their anger is over the New Veterans Charter, which they say gives less money to soldiers wounded in Afghanistan than what older vets have been entitled to.

Soldiers wounded in Afghanistan are provided with a lump sum payment, but critics argue the government isn’t providing our vets with what they need.

Protest organizer Mike Blais says the proper thing to do is for the Harper government to do away with the one-time payment and offer soldiers lifetime support for their pain and suffering.

“Our veterans deserve a lifetime, when they’re critically disabled, of care and understanding and compassion. The New Veterans Charter does not … provide that…There’s no difference between the veterans of today and … those who fought in Dieppe,” said Blais.

“We have veterans that are being very very seriously injured in Afghanistan. The concept of an improvised explosive device, by its very definition, says that people are going to be maimed and wounded … for the rest of their life,” Blais said.

The Harper government has been coming under fire for months for its handling of veterans issues.

A study by the veterans affairs ombudsman’s office found lower ranking severely wounded soldiers are most affected by the new changes.

It found the new lump sum payment awarded to them – $276, 000 – wouldn’t be enough to make up for the loss of a lifetime disability pension plan.

With files from The Canadian Press

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