No.
Evidence of meeting #4 for Veterans Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was france.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #4 for Veterans Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was france.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Defence Attaché, Embassy of France
No, I am sorry, not to my knowledge.
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
Fine.
If my memory serves me well, earlier you said that you had 3.6 million veterans.
Bloc
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
Does that mean that the 3 million who are not collecting a pension are not ill? I am thinking about our veterans here who suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. You do not have that problem in France?
Defence Attaché, Embassy of France
No. Well, it is true that only 300,000 veterans are collecting a disability pension. The remaining veterans are those people who belonged—the rule stipulates 90 days—to a combat unit in wartime or during foreign operations. If they meet these criteria, they are entitled to be recognized as veterans. They are entitled to wear a medal that is called the combatants' cross and at age 65, they receive a retired combatants' pension. This pension is tax free. Most of the pensions are for disabled veterans, but that does not mean that government assistance stops with these 360,000 veterans. There are a number of other benefits—I can go into the details if you wish—that are for both veterans receiving pensions and for veterans who may have suffered a less serious wound, at a recognized minimum rate, or may suffer from a lesser illness, again at a certain rate, which I can also describe to you. So at one time or another, all of these 3.6 million veterans will be collecting something from the state, either a pension or some other kind of retirement allowance.
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
Who are these veterans? Are they veterans of the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War, or are there others?
Defence Attaché, Embassy of France
There are others. Once you have served in a combat unit for 90 days in wartime or in foreign operations, you are a veteran. I got my veteran's card for my first tour which was during the first Gulf war, when I spent about 100 days in the theatre of operations. Then you may go on to a second, third or fourth tour, but that does not change your status at all. You become a veteran on the basis of that first tour.
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
According to our briefing notes, you have 665 beds. Are all of them for veterans, or are they for veterans that the state has assumed responsibility for, while other veterans go to ordinary retirement homes?
Defence Attaché, Embassy of France
The 665 beds are allocated to veterans who are collecting a pension first. Then, we expand the circle. In other words, there are agreements between retirement homes that report directly to the Office National des Anciens Combattants et Victimes de Guerre. There are eight such retirement homes in all of France. Furthermore, there are agreements with other retirement homes where these veterans can live. However, the retirement homes that come under the national board are free. Once people go into private retirement homes, even if there is an agreement, financial resources are necessary to access the home.
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
I have one last question, colonel Verney. You stated that on average, people receive a retirement allowance of 9,154 euros. Is that for veterans age 65 and over?
Defence Attaché, Embassy of France
No, it's for all the pensioners. Once a person comes back from a theatre...
Defence Attaché, Embassy of France
Exactly, be it one leg, one wound or one illness. For your information, about 350 soldiers in the land forces are wounded each year. Of these 350, about forty will be disabled for life. So a person can receive this pension if he has served in a theatre of operations.
Bloc
Bloc
Defence Attaché, Embassy of France
Yes, and that is an average. I do not know whether it would be useful to go into the specific details of how a pension is calculated. The entitlement can range from 10 % to beyond 100 %. It depends on the disability and the person's rank.
