OTTAWA - Soldiers returning to civilian life after being wounded in Afghanistan face the possibility of being unemployed and without medical benefits for months following their discharge because of a gap in the bureaucracy between the military and Veterans Affairs Canada.
Applications for programs and services under the new Veterans Charter are not considered until after a soldier, sailor or aircrew member is released and that "typically results in a delay of several months before eligibility is determined and benefits are received," say documents released to The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
At the same time, public service regulations restrict military members who are about to be discharged from applying for priority appointments in the civil service until after they're out of uniform.
"Therefore most can expect to be unemployed for a period of time after release," said an Oct. 11, 2006, briefing note prepared for Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor.
"Both circumstances are significant sources of stress for medically releasing members."
A senior program director at Veterans Affairs said the department is aware of the gap and doing what it can to speed up the benefits approval process, especially for badly wounded soldiers.
Despite that, Ken Miller said a handful of case delays have emerged since the charter - which overhauled veterans' benefits - went into effect on April 1, 2006.
"That situation is the one we find unacceptable and we don't want to see it," Miller said in an interview from the Veterans Affairs office in Charlottetown.
"When we hear that there is a gap, we want to address that gap and close it. We'll continue to learn as we go along."
Miller wouldn't say how many cases have fallen through the cracks, but described it as "minimal."
The majority of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan have been injured since the current mission to Kandahar began in February 2006 and have yet to be released from the army. The cases already processed under the charter largely involve veterans of previous Afghan missions, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.
The degree of the disability goes a long way in determining how quickly a case is expedited. Soldiers with less severe medical cases face routine processing.
"It's not quite as important if you're dealing with a minimal disability or very small injury," said Miller.
Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who fought a high-profile battle last fall to ensure wounded soldiers continued to receive danger pay after they are evacuated to hospital, said he's troubled by the distinction based on the severity of an injury.
"If a guy has been hurt and is unable to return to duty, it must be pretty severe," said McTeague.
Since the gap in benefits is measured in months rather than years, McTeague said there should be some kind of bridging package where those discharged on medical grounds continue receiving benefits and pay, which would give Veterans Affairs and the Public Service Commission of Canada the time they need to process the applications.
"Whether it's National Defence or Veterans Affairs picking up the tab, it shouldn't matter," McTeague said in an interview from Toronto.
"There should be a seamless transition so the wounded veteran isn't placed in any hardship. We owe it to these people. If somebody has lost a limb, taken a bullet, or been injured on behalf of this country, they should be treated with dignity."
The Royal Canadian Legion has also been pushing for the same kind of a bridge to civilian life.
"The reality is (that) the release process - the medical release process - can take up to two years," said Pierre Allard, the legion's director of veterans programs.
He said he hopes to persuade federal officials to accept the proposal.
Over the last two years, the Public Service Commission of Canada, the federal government's recruiting arm, has made minor policy changes.
Military and RCMP members, regardless of where they were injured, began getting priority entitlement to civil service jobs in December 2005. Before then, only those hurt in conflict zones got priority.
In April 2006, the commission also began allowing members of the Forces to apply for internally advertised federal jobs as long as the deputy head of the department where the vacancy existed approved.
Once they are in the Veterans Affairs system, the federal government provides benefits, including tax-free income support for those still requiring rehabilitation programs and an earning loss program that ensures the income of the veteran doesn't fall below 75 per cent of their military salary. For ex-soldiers who don't want to apply for civil service positions there is a variety of job search programs.
Soldiers too wounded to return to their posts could be caught in a bureaucratic squeeze. Not only do they face the possibility of a pay and benefits gap on the way out of the military, but they might have already been forced to leave because of injury.
The military's universality of service rule allows injured members three years to recover from injury before they must be fit enough for overseas deployment.
Faced with an increasing number of wounded troops returning from Afghanistan, O'Connor said recently that he's looking for ways to keep those permanently disabled in uniform.
The country's top military commander, Gen. Rick Hillier, has ruled out easing the current policy, but suggested that he'll be able to find ways to keep disabled troops within the ranks. As chief of defence staff, Hillier must sign every set of discharge papers and the rules allow him to make exceptions.
Hillier recently said only a handful of the wounded, perhaps as many as a dozen so far, can be classified as permanently disabled.
