{"id":181302,"date":"2018-09-12T23:45:41","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T03:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=181302"},"modified":"2018-09-12T23:45:41","modified_gmt":"2018-09-13T03:45:41","slug":"ottawa-proposes-100m-class-action-settlement-disabled-vets-clawback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/09\/12\/ottawa-proposes-100m-class-action-settlement-disabled-vets-clawback\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa proposes $100M class action settlement for disabled vets over clawback"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“I believe the proposed settlement is fair and provides both sides with needed closure,” Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan said in a statement announcing the agreement in principle. (File Photo<\/a>: Seamus O’Regan\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2014 The federal government has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a four-year legal battle with disabled veterans, who had launched a class-action lawsuit after some of their financial benefits clawed back.<\/p>\n

The settlement, which must still be approved by the Federal Court, would provide more than 12,000 of veterans with payments of between $2,000 and $50,000 depending on when they served and the severity of their disabilities.<\/p>\n

It is the latest in what could be a string of such settlements as the Liberals have indicated that they plan to resolve several other class-action lawsuits brought forward by current and retired military personnel.<\/p>\n

“I believe the proposed settlement is fair and provides both sides with needed closure,” Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan said in a statement announcing the agreement in principle.<\/p>\n

“Now that this matter may soon be behind us, the government of\u00a0Canada\u00a0will continue working to better serve veterans and their families. I believe this decision shows that we intend to ensure that veterans in\u00a0Canada\u00a0are better off now than they were before.”<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was launched in 2014 after the federal government clawed back financial assistance from thousands of low-income veterans because they were also receiving disability pensions for injuries sustained while in uniform.<\/p>\n

The veterans alleged that the deductions, which took place between April 2006 and May 2012, violated their charter rights by discriminating against them because they were disabled.<\/p>\n

A Federal Court hearing is scheduled for December, where the government and lawyers representing the veterans are expected to ask for the settlement to be approved.<\/p>\n

The settlement represents the latest win for veterans and military personnel after several previous proposed class-action lawsuits were similarly resolved before reaching trial, most notably an $887-million agreement in 2013 for military pension clawbacks.<\/p>\n

The Liberals also ordered government lawyers in February to launch settlement talks for three proposed class-action lawsuits filed by former Canadian Forces members who say they experienced harassment and discrimination while in uniform.<\/p>\n

Yet the community also suffered a devastating loss last month when the Supreme Court opted not to hear an appeal brought by a group of disabled veterans called the Equitas Society, who were fighting the Liberals to bring back lifelong disability pensions.<\/p>\n

Those pensions were abolished in 2006 and replaced by a lump-sum payment and career-training assistance, much to the chagrin of the Equitas members and other veterans, who said it provided significantly less financial compensation than the old system.<\/p>\n

The Liberals have promised their own pension plan, which comes into effect next year, but the Equitas members and others have complained that it also falls far short.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 The federal government has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a four-year legal battle with disabled veterans, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":181303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-lee-berthiaume","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}