OTTAWA, ON, May 12, 2003 - The Minister of Veterans Affairs today announced improvements in various benefits administered by Veterans Affairs Canada.

These were the result of some 18 months of consultation with veterans organizations. The discussions were guided by the principle that the Government would not approve any "new money" and enhancement of current programs would have to come from funds allocated for other departmental programs which had become redundant.

The major target to fund the new improvements was the Attendance Allowance. This benefit had been in the Pension Act since 1919 and was originally intended to provide extra finances where a totally disabled veteran could be cared for in his home rather than in a departmental institution. In some cases the benefit had become redundant with the inception of the Veterans Independence Program in April 1981.

“This is understandable,” Cliff Chadderton, Chairman of the 44-member National Council of Veteran Associations (NCVA), stated, “in that the current Attendance Allowance was being paid to 5% pensioners who required assistance in the home for non-pensioned conditions.”

"The original intention was that the veterans would be totally disabled," Chadderton stated and continued "through the years, the adjudicators (The Canadian Pension Commission) gradually loosened the restriction and Attendance Allowance was being paid to veterans who were not totally disabled."

Another amendment will ensure that War Veterans Allowance can be paid only to those who had served in the Armed Forces.

This new restriction arose following complaints from NCVA regarding a current case where Hugh Trainor of PEI had been granted War Veterans Allowance on the basis of a ruling from the Federal Court. He had crossed the Northumberland Straits, which was considered a theatre of war in 1945, en route to Halifax to take his pre-enlistment medical examination which he failed. His claim was that the Federal Government had provided travel and hotel expenses to send him from Summerside, PEI to Halifax and this was sufficient to give him status as a war veteran although his application to serve had been rejected on medical grounds.

A long-sought request from the National Council to provide a more equitable basis for payment of additional pension for those who were prisoners of war was part of the new legislation. This had been on the agenda of the National Council for many years, on the basis that the previous PoW legislation excluded additional compensation for certain classes of Dieppe veterans. New legislation also improved pension for RCAF Air Crew who had been taken prisoner after having been shot down in raids over enemy territory. A third enhancement will provide benefits to Merchant Seamen who had been prisoners longer than the existing cut off date of 911 days.

The National Council was particularly pleased to see what it called a "breakthrough" under which the Government will now recognize that an allowance under the Veterans Independence Program could continue for a widow after the death of a seriously disabled veteran.

"We have long asked the Government to recognize the 'caregiver' principle, in that these wives had fulfilled the duties of Veterans Affairs in looking after the seriously disabled veteran who could remain in his own home rather than in a hospital," Chadderton said.

Chadderton stated that the legislation also would provide a remedy for some of the smaller flaws in the present benefit system, such as healthcare benefits for Overseas Veterans and Allied Veterans with 10 years post-war residence in Canada.