Newly-appointed Veterans Affairs Minister Erin O’Toole has informed an advocacy group for wounded and psychologically injured veterans that it is no longer a stakeholder adviser to the Veterans Affairs department. Mike Blais, who helped launch Canadian Veterans Advocacy in 2011 to advocate for veterans and serving Canadian Forces members who did combat tours in Afghanistan and their families, told The Hill Times that Mr. O’Toole (Durham, Ont.) gave the bad news to the group in a voicemail he left on Mr. Blais’ phone service Jan. 7. The information came as a shock to Mr. Blais and his group, which had been one of the most vocal critics of the department’s treatment of injured veterans and Canadian Forces members in the months leading up to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) decision to shuffle former Veterans Affairs minister Julian Fantino (Vaughan, Ont.) out of the post last week, following scathing criticism from Auditor General Michael Ferguson for delays in treatment for veterans. Mr. Blais, a former peacekeeper who suffered lifelong damage to his back in a non-combat injury during a tour in Cypress, said the exclusion of Canadian Veterans Advocacy from a Veterans Affairs Canada Stakeholder Committee established in 2012 is a violation of Charter of Rights protection of freedom of expression and freedom of association. The former serviceman said it was not the first time Mr. O’Toole, a former Air Force navigator and lawyer who, prior to his appointment, was an active supporter of other causes for veterans, has singled the group out. Last June, Mr. O’Toole said in the House of Commons that Canadian Veterans Advocacy is run out of the Parliamentary office of NDP MP Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore, N.S.). “As a veteran myself, I have been quite offended by some of the work that group does. It is not sincere. It is not based on sound policy. I understand, at committee, that they have acknowledged that their funding has come from unions,” Mr. O’Toole said on June 2. Mr. O’Toole’s message said Mr. Blais should know how the minister feels about the CVA, Mr. Blais told The Hill Times. “He’s always tried to label us as a union plant,’’ Mr. Blais said in a telephone interview last Thursday. As of noon on Friday, Mr. O’Toole’s office had not responded to email and phone messages asking for a response to Mr. Blais’ description of Mr. O’Toole’s telephone call. “He lied about us in the House of Commons on June 4, he misled the House of Commons by saying that I was using Peter Stoffer’s office and his people and stuff to contact unions and solicit them for money, and that I had organized the Rock the Hill event, and none of that was true, we couldn’t even respond,” Mr. Blais said. “And now he leaves a message, ‘You know how I feel about the CVA,’” Mr. Blais said. Mr. Blais said the CVA has been listed as a stakeholder on the Veterans Affairs site for three years, and has attended stakeholder meetings and offered advice. He said the group is prepared to launch a human rights complaint on freedom of speech grounds.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 21:10:29 +0000
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