MINISTERIAL INQUIRY REQUESTED

30 April 2008

Mr. Scott Simms
Member of Parliament
Bonavista - Gander - Grand Falls-Windsor
House of CommonsOttawa, OntarioK1A 0A6

Mr. Simms,

It is with my heart on my sleeve and hat in hand that I send this telegram today requesting that you please provide me with assistance in my fight for the brave soldiers of this country. My research over the past year has prompted me to take action against the policies and governmental departments from which the policies were conceived.

We have been in contact several times since October of last year and the assistance I have received from your staff member, Mr. Fred Cuff, was enormous. However, I still find myself fighting an uphill battle with our government, the Canadian Forces, the Departments of National Defence and Veterans Affairs. Although the media of this great country have shown an interest in my plight, the lack of governmental action to investigate this issue has forced them to question the "salability" of the story, thereby limiting the Canadian public's information on the topic to scant shards of information that is soon lost to the file of "yesterdays news".

My fight is one that would see Canada portrayed as an advocate for its soldiers. A recent article in the Sun newspaper identified a shortage of visible minorities, aboriginal peoples, and women in the service. With every article that is exposed to the Canadian public with regards to the plight of veterans in Canada, I believe that this country is very fortunate to have anyone stand up and fight, knowing that for service to their country they run the risk of being injured and not be properly cared for in the later stages of their lives. Without concern for a soldier's disability and family responsibility, our government is taking advantage of their ability to create policies that has forced soldiers to fight for compensation, an uphill battle that has been seen by many soldiers as demeaning, belittling, and embarrassing in their quest to prove their injury was a consequence of their duty.

The Canadian Forces has undertaken an outrageous policy that forbids it’s military and civilian doctors from providing assistance to the soldier for any purpose that is associated with Veterans Affairs, except to provide the Medical File. Veterans Affairs, being short staffed and overcome with the amount of files they are forced to review, leaves the decision making for compensation to an Adjudicator. The Adjudicator is not a medical doctor, nor do they hold any form of medical background. They do not ask for assistance from the medical professionals on staff at Veterans Affairs unless it is obvious that the soldier was injured on duty outside Canada and has a limb missing or "media proof" that the injury was caused by something military related. Only then does the Adjudicator provide immediate compensation, albeit a minimal amount, to keep the soldier happy. Otherwise, the Adjudicator denies the claim and this forces the soldier to take up the fight with the Bureau of Pensions Advocates.

The Bureau of Pensions Advocates, although a blessing to most soldiers, is not a very effective tool to use for compensation. Our government has reduced the ability of these fine lawyers by putting in place the same policy that Veterans Affairs has been subjected to: Do not ask the military doctor to provide assistance to the soldier in order to prove an injury and the effects that have been caused/suffered due to that injury. This is a policy that is against even the rules that Canadians are afforded by our nation: Representation Without Prejudice. By denying the soldier's Advocate the right to gain as much information as is deemed necessary by ordering the testimony of a relevant witness to testify, is equivalent to denying the Courts of Canada the right to allow the court to subpoena a person to provide testimony.

If we, as soldiers, are forced to feel that we are not equal to the ordinary Canadian, due to being forced to accept the legal disillusionment that we have seen in the governments of some of the country's that we have fought (and are still fighting in), then how can we continue to fight for our great country? We all know the reason: Because we love Canada and what it represents in the world. The Canadian government uses this knowledge to it’s benefit.

We have gone to war with countries who have not provided it's people with Human Rights, yet we as a country are currently denying our soldiers with a Right and Freedom to use the medical advice of our doctors to help them gain a favourable decision from the very organization that has been set up to take care of injured soldiers. This is comparable to denying the defence attorney to right to call witnesses at a trial that could prove the innocence of the defendant.

There is a reason for this: The cost to the government would be astronomical. When a country sends it's sons and daughters into harms way, or employs them to "Stand on Guard" for our great nation, then it is only natural and expected that they accept the responsibility for taking care of those who fall or are wounded in their duty. To do anything less is an assurtion that the leadership of the country has only placed a smoke screen in the foreground to hide the true nature of the beast lurking in the background. Our soldiers are being forced to fight (without a real legal ability to win) our own government who has placed barriers and restraints against them, the same kind that the soldiers have witnessed in their deployments to rogue countries accused of harbouring "oppression and an oppressive government".

I have the following request: I would like a Ministerial Inquiry into the policy and the consequential loss of compensation and overall cost to our soldiers and their families experienced since this policy was inforced. Further to this, I would like to forward the motion that this policy be suspended until such time as necessary for an investigation and decision on it's continued implementation or discontinued application is announced by the Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence.

I ask for your assistance in this matter soonest.




//signed electronically//
Sergeant Robin Brentnall, CD
Military Constituent
Bonavista - Gander - Grand Falls-Windsor

A SOLDIERS MASK

This is my first book, based on my 22 year career in the Canadian Forces.

It should be out by mid-July.

DOCTORS REPRESENTING SOLDIER'S CONSIDERED CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND AN ETHICAL ISSUE

Who could have predicted that the Canadian Forces Health Services Group would admit that allowing our medical doctors to assist soldiers in their fight with Veterans Affairs was considered Unethical and a Conflict of Interest?

"The member's own doctor is not involved in the appealed medical assessment review because there are significant conflict of interest and ethical issues surrounding this issue." This is a quote from an e-mail sent to me on 21 April 2008 and they also state that "VAC makes their decision based on the documentation found in the medical record." What they don't know is that an Adjudicator at Veterans Affairs is not a Medical Doctor and does not have a professional Medical background to make even the most basic judgment call on a medical problem.

"When a member's medical record does not support the member's disability application, there is, of course, an appeal process. At this point, VAC advocates can request that an independent medical examiner or specialist who has no vested interest be called upon to review the documentation and to provide an unbiased and independent medical assessment as to whether the disability being claimed could be service related, or not." I am not sure if this is a true statement or not. My Advocate has asked me to find an "independent medical examiner or specialist". But "my" military doctor is the only one who can refer me and has already been denied because it is for Veterans Affairs and they are not allowed to do that.

It is disheartening to know that our own Canadian Forces Health Services Group feels it would be a Conflict of Interest or an Ethical Issue to give our soldiers every ounce of assistance they deserve.

It's amazing how our own people can treat our soldiers so poorly.

INJURED WITHOUT COMPENSATION?

Have you been injured on duty? Have you been turned down for your Veterans Affairs pension? Received a very small compensation payment? Received grief and frustration with the process?

My first reaction was typical: FIGHT. But I have come to the decision that the system we have is going to have to do and if we all work together, we will eventually iron out the kinks.

Contact the Bureau of Pension Advocate to get help, their number is in the last paragraph of your letter from DVA.

I have spent 22 years in the Forces and have been an advocate for our soldiers. Our Recruiting slogan is Fight: Fear, Distress, Chaos.

Although it feels like a bureaucracy, our system and the people in it will work.

We just have to have faith.

MEDIA CATCHING ON TO ABUSE

This is an e-mail I sent to Kathleen Harris ( kathleen.harris@sunmedia.ca ) the Sun Media group in Ottawa on 9 April:

In your article 9 April, it was finally brought up that there is problems with the way soldiers who are injured are perceived by their chain of command.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you could only see the attitude towards those who have been injured in Canada on "normal" duties, it would make you sick to your stomach. I have personally witness harassment, sexual assault, and abuse of authority. As the clerk for SPHL, the sub-unit where most injured soldiers are sent to recover, I was told stories of racism, abuse, false convictions, and being called "sick, lame, and lazy", a term for injured soldiers.

Keep going hard at this Kathleen. Dawn Black, a Member of Parliament, is getting to the system and with every day will uncover the mess that we have been exposed to. If you need quotes or opinions on certain things, I will gladly give them. I too have been "screwed over" by supervisors and middle managers and Commanding Officers who were trying to keep their hands clean in order to move up that ladder of success. I prefer to get my hands dirty and for my candor, have been moved out of their harms way 4 times for sticking up for our soldiers. Two of the people I had to stand up to have been awarded the Member of Military Merit medal and one other supervisor was promoted 10 months after she sexually assaulted me.

Don't forget, 9 April was the date that Canadian Soldiers solidified this country's independence, the battle of Vimy Ridge. If only they could see us now and have a say.