The media contacted me after budget day and asked what this meant in financial terms. My response was that it would be approximately $37.50 a month. Their incredulous response was, “You fought a five-and-a-half year war over a $1.23 a day?” No, I fought a war for equality and human rights. The $1.23 is just a consequence or byproduct.
What started the war that I've waged for years for efficacy studies and tax credits? Three-plus decades ago I was injured doing my job in the military. The mental health injuries have been and will always be an ongoing battle, 24-7 365 days a year. When I was paired up with Thai, almost six years ago, I applied to VAC for their service dog allowance. If I was blind and Thai was a guide dog, I would be receiving an allowance for her care and upkeep. Buried deep within VAC's own benefit grids you're going to find benefit 625995, which provides $1,200 for 12 calendar months for the care and upkeep of a guide dog. Trying to differentiate between a guide dog and a service dog is a moot point. In each case a highly specialized dog is task trained to mitigate their handler's disability. Yet I was denied. When I asked why, they said that Thai does not meet the standard. When I asked what standard she did not meet, I was informed they did not have one. Yes, you have heard that right. I was denied a benefit for a standard I could not meet that they could not define.
I then checked the Income Tax Act, and found out that all service dogs were covered under the medical expense tax credit, with one singular, notable exception. When I repeatedly queried this, I was told there were no studies proving the efficacy of the use of service dogs for PTSD, this despite the fact that other service dogs were never subjected to efficacy studies. It's interesting to note that in 2012, six years ago, diabetic alert dogs were not subjected to the requirement of an efficacy study when they were included in the METC.
The difference between that and how I was treated was discriminatory by definition, treated differently on the basis of my disability. Yes, you heard that one right. I was being discriminated against based on the nature of my disability, in direct contravention of the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Ladies and gentlemen, this war was fought for human rights and equality, and any attempt to justify or rationalize human rights based on dollars and cents is so distasteful I cannot quantify it. It actually makes me physically ill. I should probably be testifying at the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs to discuss the implications of VAC's complacency and apathy surrounding the demise of the national service dog standard. This failure by VAC will only further delay financial assistance to disabled veterans with service dogs.
All Canadians who were severely disabled by the debilitating injuries surrounding PTSD need help. The horrific impact 24/7 and 365 days a year on their lives and the lives of their families should not be minimized in any way. The latest is that CRA is denying those with severe mental health injuries their disability tax credit certificate because of a bureaucratic policy, and that, too, is unconscionable. At every turn we've had to fight hammer and tongs for every inch.
You see $1.23 a day, or $37.50 a month, may not sound like much, but the $450-a-year medical expense tax credit, based on $3,000-per year care and upkeep for your service dog, does make a difference to those living with serious mental health injuries. The lash of discrimination only further traumatizes and stigmatizes. A huge step is taken when equality is finally ratified. It should never have come to this.
Why I waged a war for equality and had to have it go on for so long escapes me. However, this is only the first step on a very long journey that those battling the ugly stigma of mental health injuries face. I strongly encourage all parliamentarians to take the next step in helping our disabled veterans by ensuring that VAC end their clearly discriminatory policy, and ensure that I and other disabled veterans receive their allowances under benefit code 625995.
VAC's policy is that they will not provide a benefit further back than when you applied for it. VAC is steadfast in this rule. In my personal case, I'm entitled to almost six years of this benefit back to the date of my application.
In the other matter I was asked to address, the new pension for life, I was extremely hesitant to talk about that because I realized there are others who may have greater expertise. However, I feel, upon considered reflection, I must comment.
The government is about to create a problem of epic proportions for itself. Having just waged human rights battles based on disability, it is about to create another equally loathsome, yet avoidable, human rights battle, based on gender discrimination. Let me explain.
Two soldiers deploy, trained to do the same job and are in the same vehicle, and they sustain exactly the same injuries. They are both covered under the new pension for life, as presented to our veterans, yet astonishingly, the two soldiers receive different monthly payouts. The people who elected you will not stand for that. Imagine what happens when folks comprehend that the difference in payouts is based on gender, and that this government wilfully and knowingly implemented a human rights violation.
There is no other pension at the federal and provincial levels that has gender-based payout differentials, so why the one, solitary exception? The answer is gender-based actuarial assumptions. Should our two veterans choose a lump sum, their benefits are exactly the same. Should they choose a monthly payout, they receive different payouts based on gender. That is not a pension; that is an annuity.
This may seem similar, but there are key differences. Hearken back to my comments earlier that attempt to justify human rights violations based on financial considerations is wrong on all levels. You cannot do that. To knowingly adopt such a plan is unfathomable.
This is not yet law, and the government has the chance to rectify it and save itself immense problems in the future. With the passage of Bill C-74, a critical step forward in helping all Canadians who live with disabilities will transpire with the inclusion of the medical expense tax credit for the use of service dogs by those with mental health injuries. But do not violate Canadians' human rights. To adopt the new pension for life with embedded gender-based discrimination would be unconscionable.
I spent the last five and a half years embroiled in a battle for equality, no more, no less. Equal is equal. How the Prime Minister, who wants to be seen as the champion of gender equality, can participate in enacting legislation embedding gender disparity escapes me. We fought for freedom, and we fought for equality. We should never have to fight our government for human rights and benefits. That was what my fight was for. It was for equality. It was never about $1.23.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.