Progress Report on Recommendations: Simplifying the Service Delivery Model for Medically Releasing Members of the Canadian Armed Forces

Ombudsman Message | 7 June 2018

Today my Office is releasing our report card as part of our ongoing initiative to follow up on any and all recommendations made to the Minister of National Defence through our systemic investigations.

In September 2016, my Office released a report titled Simplifying the Service Delivery Model for Medically Releasing Members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces who are medically released deserve to receive, on a timely basis, services and benefits that are consistent with their needs. Our Office found that this was not the case. Indeed, many individuals are being released from the military with very few sureties related to financial and/or benefits and services being in place to ensure a smooth transition to civilian life.

With this in mind, the Office made three recommendations to the Minister of National Defence:

1. It is recommended that the Canadian Armed Forces retain medically releasing members until such time as all benefits and services from the Canadian Armed Forces, Veterans Affairs Canada, and Service Income Security Insurance Plan have been confirmed and are put in place.
2. It is recommended that the Canadian Armed Forces establish a Concierge Service for all medically releasing members. This service would serve as a focal point to assist members and their families for all administrative matters regarding the member’s transition.
3. It is recommended that the Canadian Armed Forces leads, through a phased approach, the development of a secure web portal. The portal would contain information for all Canadian Armed Forces, Veterans Affairs Canada, and Service Income Security Insurance Plan programs and services. The portal would also enable members to input their information just once, and the portal would automatically apply for all services and benefits that would be consistent with the member’s needs.

These three recommendations were accepted by the Minister of National Defence. However, 18 months following the publication of our report, our Office has determined that the first two recommendations have not been implemented, and the third recommendation remains only partially implemented, due in part to my organization’s creation of the Military Benefits Browser in conjunction with the Canadian Armed Forces.

Furthermore, initiative 28 in Canada’s new defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, released in June 2017, specifically states that the Defence team will “ensure that all benefits will be in place before a member transitions to post-military life,” a strikingly similar, although less comprehensive initiative that I proposed in recommendation 1 of this report. I have stated repeatedly that retaining a member until ALL benefits from ALL sources are in place is the lynchpin of preventing unnecessary stress for members transitioning out of the forces. Yet, despite the promise made in the Strong, Secure, Engaged and reiterated by the Chief of the Defence Staff publicly, no policy suite has been put in place to support it. Members are still being released from the Canadian Armed Forces before they are ready. We know this because my Office is still receiving calls from these members seeking assistance.

I invite you to read the progress report for more details on the status of each recommendation.

 

Gary Walbourne
Ombudsman