Vaughan MP Julian Fantino under fire from war veterans

Vaughan Citizen
January 29, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Julian Fantino, Vaughan Conservative MP and Minister of Veterans Affairs, is under fire after refusing, during a heated meeting with a group of veterans, to back down on closing nine of his department’s district offices.

Mr. Fantino held a meeting with about a dozen Canadian veterans in Ottawa Tuesday.

They were trying to convince the federal government to reverse its decision to close district offices in Sydney, N.S., Thunder Bay, Windsor, Corner Brook, N.L., Charlottetown, Kelowna, B.C., Brandon, Man. and Saskatoon.

But, according to numerous media reports, the meeting went very badly.

Now a number of veterans and NDP party leader Tom Mulcair are calling for Mr. Fantino to be fired or step down.

The minister could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but his office issued the following apology:

“Yesterday, due to (a) cabinet meeting that ran long, I was very late in meeting a group of veterans that had come to Ottawa to discuss their concerns,” the statement reads. “I sincerely apologize for how this was handled. Today, I am reaching out to those veterans to reiterate that apology personally.

“I have been committed to having an open dialogue with the men and women who served Canada in uniform, but I realize that yesterday’s regrettable delay has brought that into question,” the statement continues. “Veterans across Canada should know that I remain deeply committed to meeting with them and listening to the issues that matter to them and their families, and to continue to do what’s right to support those who have stood up for Canada. Our country’s veterans deserve no less.”

Retired sergeant Ron Clarke, 73, of Cape Breton, was among those who met with the minister.

He said following the meeting that the brusque and disrespectful treatment by Mr. Fantino has alienated him from a core Conservative constituency.

Mr. Clarke, who served for Canada as a peacekeeper in Cyprus and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, says he now drives about 15 minutes to get to his caseworker in Sydney, N.S.

But, Mr. Clarke says, the closure means he’ll have to travel five hours to get to a centre in Halifax.

“It’s going to cause a lot of misery for us if these offices close,’’ Mr. Clarke said.

Mr. Clarke says he’s not “computer illiterate’’ - a major stumbling block for him in terms of accessing the Veterans Affairs website. Plus using the phone or a computer can’t replace the face-to-face service he gets from his caseworker.

“With post traumatic stress, she knows my triggers, she knows how to talk to me,’’ Mr. Clarke says.

Former soldier Bruce Moncur was at the meeting too.

He is vowing to make the closings an issue at the ballot box during the next election.

“Our goal is to make the Conservatives pay for this injustice by losing their jobs” he said.

Mr. Moncur, 30, who was seriously injured by shrapnel in 2006 while serving with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan, uses the Veterans Affairs office in Windsor once a month.

He submits his pay stubs - he’s now a personal support worker for a non-profit agency near Windsor - to Veterans Affairs to receive his injury benefits.

He has also been assessed by a doctor in the office.

“The office is vital for me to do my pension stuff,’’ he says, adding that it took him hours to use Veterans Affairs’ online services.

“I use a computer for online banking, eBay, Amazon.com and to buy concert tickets’’ and it (the Veterans Affairs website) was still literally an afternoon to navigate,’’ he said.

The federal government says it is closing the centres because of changing demographics among former and active Canadian forces members.

Ottawa says it has been bringing more services closer to active members serving at military bases in Canada - where the growing demand is - through a network of integrated personal support centres for the ill and injured.

Ottawa says there will be 27 Veterans Affairs Canada district centres, about two dozen of the integrated personnel support centres, and 17 stress injury clinics.