Michael Chong - Our Shared Debt

The service and sacrifice made by our veterans has always been an issue near and dear to my heart. Thirteen years ago, I co-founded the Dominion Institute (now the Historica-Dominion Institute), an organization committed to raising awareness about Canada’s history and the contributions of our veterans. The Institute partnered with Royal Canadian Legion to establish The Memory Project, which connects Canadian school children with veterans across the nation. To date, over one million school children in Canada have had the privilege of meeting a veteran in the classroom and have heard the stories of service and sacrifice. Recently, we expanded the program to provide every living Second World War veteran with the opportunity to share and record their memories through oral interviews and digitized artefacts and memorabilia. This nationwide bilingual project will be Canada’s largest online oral history archive of our participation in the Second World War.

“Yet, there is still work to be done. Lately, Pat Stogran, the Veterans Ombudsman, has raised several areas in which the federal government could improve our support and care of veterans.”

The government is listening to these concerns. That is why, this September, the federal government announced improvements in support and care for our veterans and their families. We will increase financial support for seriously injured veterans, enhanced monthly income for severely injured veterans who are unable to return to work, and a boost to the minimum annual income for veterans released at lower salary levels.

We are improving the care available to injured soldiers and their families, and will do so in a more timely and consistent way. We are spending over $50 million over the next five years to help soldiers in their recovery and rehabilitation, as well as to their eventual reintegration, along with their families, into military or civilian life.

We are improving transitional housing for our injured veterans, by widening doorways and installing wheelchair lifts where needed. We are expanding the services available to our veterans for things like childcare and the delivery of medication and food. If the veteran requires care, there will be a reimbursement of expenses of up to $100 per day. We have also enhanced benefits for those veterans’ spouses who wish to pursue further education. Finally, we are hiring more case workers to ensure that service is delivered in a timely manner for our veterans.

The risk and sacrifice that our soldiers have taken on in defence of our shared values and our nation cannot be forgotten. The federal government has taken a step in the right direction in improving the care and benefits available to our injured veterans.

Michael Chong is the Member of Parliament for Wellington-Halton Hills and can be reached through his website

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