Wounded Soldiers’ Pay Suspensions Add Insult To Injuries
Posted October 6, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada’s top military leaders are scrambling to come up with a solution to a shocking problem that has recently come to light regarding so-called danger pay for wounded soldiers.
Under the current rules, when a troop is wounded and removed from the combat zone they lose operational allowances that can total more than $2,000 a month.
Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier said he only learned of the problem last week and is currently working to fix it, although he didn’t say exactly what changes he planned to make.
“I’ve got a lot of very smart, big-brained people now figuring how we’re going to do that, but we’re going to look after those soldiers,” he said.
On Friday Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor also said he has people working to ensure wounded soldiers get some kind of a replacement for danger pay – a financial perk offered to troops serving in Afghanistan meant to compensate for the hardships of the mission.
“I’ve asked the senior military staff and department staff to look how we treat wounded soldiers from a compensation point of view and they’re moving quickly to look at that challenge,” he said Friday.
O’Connor said the rules around danger pay won’t change, but the government has promised to offer an alternative to compensate the troops.
It was complaints from soldiers’ families that prompted the response from military officials, including Bill Hunter, whose 23-year-old son Jeffrey was wounded in an attack this week.
As Jeffrey Hunter struggles to recover, the government cut some of his benefits, or, danger pay.
“I don’t care whose policy it is,” the angry father said. “They put their lives in danger, to take back the money is wrong.”
The danger pay policy received harsh criticism from opposition leaders and MPs Friday.
“That’s a callous policy, wherever this comes from should be exposed and immediately be fixed,” NDP Leader Jack Layton said.
“I can’t think of any other industry where if you are hurt or injured on the job you suddenly have your benefits cut,” Liberal MP Dan McTeague said. “It’s clear to me this is a policy that has to be reviewed.”
