Move forward on our plan to launch a pilot program next year that will provide rent supplements and wrap-around supports to homeless Veterans, so that they can get the housing and services they need.

Introduce a Veterans stream to the Rapid Housing Initiative which will see new affordable housing become available for Veterans.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Continue our work to reduce wait times and ensure Veterans and their families receive decisions on their applications in a timely manner.

Invest the necessary resources to accomplish this, such as hiring more case workers and adjudicators, continuing to enhance disability benefit processing, and by enhancing innovative digital solutions.

Ensure the benefit system and Veterans Affairs services are responsive and meet the needs of underrepresented Veterans including women, LGBTQ2, racializes, and Indigenous Veterans.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Launch Canada’s first National Veteran Employment Strategy, with a goal of ensuring that every Veteran can find meaningful work after releasing from the Canadian Armed Forces. A part of this strategy will include improving qualification recognition so that certifications earned while in service can be used in civilian life.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Support Commemorate Canada and ensure this program recognizes modern Veterans as well as women, Indigenous, racialized, and LGBT2Q Veterans from all conflicts.

Ensure that we recognize the valuable contributions of Canadian Armed Forces Veterans who have served our country in domestic operations such as wildfires, ice storms, and floods.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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• Empowering military doctors, who know the demands of service and the impact of injuries, to determine a service-related injury for all CAF and VAC purposes.

° No longer will one medical evaluation deny someone the ability to serve, and a separate assessment then deny them benefits.

• Revising the concept of “universality of service” to be job-specific.

° The “everyone is a rifleman” concept is outdated and unsuited to the realities of modern warfare while leading to injured service members being pushed out and cut off.

° Fitness categories will become job-specific, and those who wish to continue to serve after injury will have the opportunity to retrain in an area where they can serve.

• Ensuring a smooth transition for any CAF members who have to be medically released, including retaining them in the CAF until all the benefits and services from the CAF, VAC, and Service Income Security Insurance Plan have been confirmed and put in place.

• Implementing the Lifelong Disability Benefit for moderately to severely injured veterans.

• Making a transfer to the reserves a practical and easy option and adjusting service requirements to balance the need for training with the reality of adapting to the civilian workforce.

° This will ease a regular force member’s transition and strengthen the reserves.

• Ensuring that military families, especially spouses, are provided with sufficient support.

• Implementing a strategy to combat homelessness among veterans and explore the potential for using surplus military housing to provide housing for homeless veterans.

• Covering the cost of PTSD service dogs for veterans and creating training standards for them.

• Empowering frontline VAC employees to adjudicate claims.

• Completing the Afghanistan War Memorial.

• Funding educational initiatives that teach Canadians about veterans’ service and Canada’s place in the world.

— Canada's Recovery Plan, retrieved 2021-08-18

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A New Democrat government will honour the special bond of mutual obligation between Canadians and veterans, and deliver the services that veterans need and deserve. As part of this process, we will work with veterans to design a system that provides fair benefits to all veterans, including equal access to lifetime pensions.

Veterans shouldn’t have to wait weeks or even months or years to receive the services they need. We’ll get rid of backlogs and step up high-quality, personalized service delivery by actually providing one caseworker for every twenty-five veterans, hiring more disability adjudicators to clear the backlog, putting in place automatic approvals for the most common injuries, and improving services that are delivered by phone and online.

There’s also much more that we can do to ease the transition from service for veterans. A New Democrat government will give Canadian Forces members access to care and support before the transition, and make sure that their benefits are in place before they are released from service.

New Democrats know that sometimes a sacrifice abroad means being unable to care for yourself when you return, and we will help support veterans and their families by expanding the caregiver allowance to more people.

New Democrats will work with partners in community services and the veterans community to end veteran homelessness for good – because one veteran on the streets is one too many.

To ensure that taxpayer money earmarked for veterans care actually gets spent on it, we will automatically carry forward all annual lapsed spending in Veterans Affairs to improve services. There should never be an incentive for any government to save money on the backs of veterans.

And finally, to hold all governments accountable to the sacred commitments we make to veterans, New Democrats will make the Veterans Ombudsman fully independent so they can report transparently and directly to Canadians.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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