This week’s St. Paul Journal includes a salute to Canada’s veterans, in advance of Remembrance Day on Nov. 11. This year’s Remembrance Day section also highlights the service of a soldier in the Korean War, sometimes called Canada’s Forgotten War.
For some, it was a sore point that it took decades before they received any recognition for their role in the conflict. Previously, Canada officially considered its role in the conflict as a police action and not war, meaning that those who served in the UN-led effort were not viewed as veterans.
Only recently have Korean War veterans been receiving more formal recognition, with the first National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day held on July 27, 2010.
While this recognition marks a step in the right direction, words and moments of silence alone are not enough to pay proper homage to our veterans.
Outgoing Veterans Ombudsmen Pat Stogren made headlines this year in his ongoing campaign to ensure veterans are adequately compensated for their service to Canada. He has criticized the federal government’s treatment of injured soldiers and certain policies, particularly the plan to pay out lump sums of up to $276,000 for serious injury, instead of pensions, and charging tax on benefits paid out to the widows of soldiers killed in action.
He’s been reported as saying Veterans Affairs has adopted a “penny-pinching, insurance-company mentality” toward its clients and that Canada’s commitment to former soldiers and their families is “nowhere as comprehensive as it once was.”
Just this past Saturday, veterans across Canada took part in marches during a national veterans day of action against the federal government’s treatment of veterans, the New Veterans Charter and its lump sum payments. Soldiers serving in Afghanistan are coming back from the conflict, as young as in their early 20s, with war wounds and psychological conditions, veterans charge, and when the military cuts these men and women loose, they will have to fight to get a pension because they will struggle to find full employment.
After Stogran’s vocal and active term as Veterans Ombudsmen, the Harper government decided – for whatever reason - not to renew his term, making Stogran’s last day in office Nov. 10, 2010, one day before Remembrance Day. As Stogran steps down, hopefully his fight leaves an impact on Veterans Affairs and other Canadians that it is not enough to pay lip service to those who leave their families and homes, to those who are willing to sacrifice their health, well-being, and possibly, even their lives, in the line of duty. Canada should not repeat the mistake it made in failing to honour its Korean War veterans – it should not let the soldiers of today become the forgotten or neglected veterans of tomorrow.
