A New Strategy. A Stronger Voice. A Determined Fight for Change.

For several years, Veterans With Cancer Inc. has worked to persuade Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) to modernize its disability claims process and make it more responsive to the needs of veterans diagnosed with service-related cancers.

Our objective has always been straightforward: veterans fighting the same cancer, resulting from the same carcinogenic exposure during military service, should be recognized as a group and have their claims assessed through a consistent, expedited process. They should not be forced to navigate years of repetitive assessments and administrative delays when the underlying circumstances and medical evidence are substantially the same.

Equally important, VAC must recognize and consistently apply the relevant legal principles and precedents established through its own decisions and decisions of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB). Veterans should not have to repeatedly establish what has already been recognized in materially comparable cases.

Unfortunately, our experience has convinced us that a different approach is necessary.

WHAT WE HAVE DONE — AND WHY IT HAS NOT WORKED

We have not been idle. Over the past several years, Veterans With Cancer Inc. has undertaken an extensive advocacy campaign, including:

• Participating in multiple Microsoft Teams meetings with senior VAC administrators and the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.
• Publishing 11 comprehensive Discussion Papers identifying systemic barriers, inequities and unnecessary delays in the disability claims process.
• Sending our Discussion Papers individually to government representatives and decision-makers over a two-year period.
• Mailing more than 900 letters through Canada Post to Members of Parliament, including every member of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.
• Eliciting support from the Royal Canadian Legion in distributing information to veterans.
• Establishing a dedicated website providing veterans with information about cancer, carcinogenic exposures and the disability claims process.
• Creating a Facebook presence to raise awareness and bring together veterans affected by service-related cancer.
• Making a presentation to members of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board in October 2024, during their professional development retreat in Charlottetown, on the carcinogenic exposures veterans faced while serving in uniform.

We approached these efforts believing that presenting compelling evidence, offering practical recommendations and engaging directly with senior government officials would produce meaningful reform.

It has not.

WHY WE ARE CHANGING OUR APPROACH

Our experience has led us to a difficult conclusion: neither the Minister, the Deputy Minister nor senior departmental administrators appear willing to depart from the status quo without clear direction from the government's political leadership.

Perhaps we should not be surprised.

The Office of the Auditor General identified serious shortcomings in Veterans Affairs Canada's claims processing and the unacceptable delays veterans face in both its 2014 and 2022 reports. Yet, despite these warnings and repeated calls for improvement, the fundamental problems remain.

Our Discussion Papers have gone unanswered in any meaningful way. Our emails have not moved the needle. More than 900 letters to elected representatives have produced little evidence of the change veterans desperately need.

That means engaging Canadians, bringing the experiences of veterans into the public spotlight and encouraging constituents to demand action from their Members of Parliament.

WHAT WE ARE DOING NOW — TAKING OUR MESSAGE TO CANADIANS

We began shifting our strategy several months ago. Rather than relying primarily on correspondence and meetings behind closed doors, we are increasingly using public awareness, investigative journalism and national media to expose the problems veterans face.

WHAT WE WANT TO ACHIEVE

Our objective has not changed. What has changed is how we intend to achieve it.

We are calling for a fundamental transformation of the way Veterans Affairs Canada processes disability claims involving service-related cancers.

1. Group Recognition and Assessment

Veterans diagnosed with the same cancer arising from the same or substantially similar carcinogenic exposures during military service should be recognized as a group. Their claims should be processed through a consistent, streamlined approach rather than repeatedly assessed as unrelated individual cases.

2. Recognition of Established Precedents

VAC decision-makers must consistently apply established legal principles and relevant precedents arising from VAC and VRAB decisions. Where the facts and medical circumstances are materially comparable, veterans should not be subjected to repeated battles over matters that have already been recognized.

3. A Faster, Veteran-Friendly Claims Process

The claims process must be redesigned to eliminate unnecessary administrative barriers, repetitive assessments and years of waiting. Veterans fighting cancer should not have to spend their remaining time fighting bureaucracy.

4. Greater Government Investment and Legislative Reform

The federal government must increase its investment in veterans' healthcare and amend legislation and policies where necessary to establish a more responsive system.

Canada should examine the American approach under the PACT Act, which provides presumptive recognition for specified conditions associated with military toxic exposures. Canadian veterans deserve a system that similarly recognizes the connection between established hazardous exposures and resulting illnesses.