{"id":523,"date":"2013-08-19T15:18:59","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T19:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncva-wp-cfd3bchdd5esgma5.canadacentral-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=523"},"modified":"2017-06-12T15:06:22","modified_gmt":"2017-06-12T19:06:22","slug":"ncva-letter-to-the-editor-re-there-is-no-sacred-duty-to-canadas-veterans-aug-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/news-release\/ncva-letter-to-the-editor-re-there-is-no-sacred-duty-to-canadas-veterans-aug-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the Editor Re: "Sacred Duty" to Canada's Veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"
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August 19, 2013 – <\/strong>Brian Forbes, Chairman, The National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada wrote a Letter to the Editor regarding an article published in the Ottawa Citizen, entitled <\/a>There is no 'sacred duty' to Canada's veterans.<\/p>\r\n

Duty to veterans was published in the Ottawa Citizen on August 19, 2013.<\/p>\r\n

– 30 –<\/div>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n
\r\n \r\n

Letter to the Editor<\/h2>\r\nRE: Duty to Veterans<\/strong>\r\n

There is indeed a social covenant between Canada and its veterans and their \r\ndependants, notwithstanding the highly inappropriate opinion expressed by Professor \r\nRobinson (Citizen<\/em>-August 5th<\/sup>).<\/p>\r\n

When Canadians prepared for the battle of Vimy Ridge, \r\nPrime Minister, Sir Robert Borden,\r\noffered the following commitment:<\/p>\r\n

"You can go into this actio\r\nn feeling assured of this, and as the head of the government I \r\ngive you this assurance; that you need have no fear that the government and the \r\ncountry will fail to show just appreciation of your service to the country in what you are \r\nabout to do and what y\r\nou have already done. The government and the country will \r\nconsider it their first duty to prove to the returned men its just and due appreciation of \r\nthe inestimable value of the services rendered to the country and Empire; and that no \r\nman, whether he goes \r\nback or whether he remains in Flanders, will have just cause to \r\nreproach the government for having broken faith with the men who won and the men \r\nwho died."<\/p>\r\n

This has been seen \r\nby many \r\nin the \r\nveterans\r\ncommunity as the genesis of Canada's \r\nsocial covenant\r\nto \r\nveterans and their families; a form of implicit contract w\r\nhich has been \r\nat the foundation of \r\nveterans\r\nlegislation from World War I to the present day.<\/p> \r\n

Serving \r\nin the Canadian Forces is a demanding and inherently dangerous career \r\nchoice. When Canadians p\r\nut on a uniform for our country, they \r\n\u2013\r\nand by extension their \r\nfamilies \r\n\u2013\r\nmake an extraordinary personal and profess\r\nional commitment and sacrifice\r\nbecause of their willingness to put their lives on the line and \r\nthe poten\r\ntial long term \r\nimpact of military se\r\nrvice on their health. Many sustai\r\nn\r\ninjuries that affect their ability to \r\ndo their jobs and limit their employment in the military.<\/p>\r\n

W\r\nhen these injuries occur, \r\nCF \r\nmembers expect to be able to reestablish themselves in \r\nthe civilian community and be gainfully employed. \r\nIf \r\nunable to work, they expect that \r\ntheir standard of living will not be compromised because of their service to their country, \r\nand that they will stil\r\nl be able to provide for their families. If killed in action, they expect \r\ntheir families to be cared for and have the services they need. If they develop health \r\nproblems later in life related to their military service, they expect to receive treatment, \r\nreh\r\nabilitation and support.<\/p> \r\n

We owe a unique debt of gratitude to \r\nCF \r\nmembers who put t\r\nhemselves at risk on our \r\nbehalf and \r\nhave a moral and legal obligation to provide services and supports that \r\nacknowledge their sacrifice and respect their dignity.<\/p>\r\n

The Gove\r\nrnment of Canada should be ashamed to take a position in a Canadian court \r\nthat fails to recognize the fundamental social covenant that exists between veterans, \r\ntheir dependants and the people of Canada.<\/p> \r\n

Sincerely,\r\n

\r\n
\"Brian\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\nBrian N. Forbes, B.Comm., LL.B.
\r\n\r\nChairman, The National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada
\r\n\r\nChairman, Executive Committee of The War Amps<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
August 19, 2013 – Brian Forbes, Chairman, The National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada wrote a Letter to the Editor regarding an article published in the Ottawa Citizen, entitled There is no 'sacred duty' to Canada's veterans. Duty to veterans was published in the Ottawa Citizen on August 19, 2013. – 30 – Letter(Read more<\/a>)<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncva-cnaac.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}