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May 1st, 2012

Federal government must respect court ruling in favour of injured veterans: NDP

O****TTAWA – Official Opposition Veterans Affairs Critic Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore) and Deputy Critic Sylvain Chicoine (Châteauguay-Saint-Constant) said the federal government must honour today’s Federal Court decision on the Service Income Security Insurance Plan (SISIP) program that ruled in favour of injured veterans.

“I implore this Conservative government to respect this decision by the Federal Court and not appeal it,” said Stoffer. “Now that the court has ruled in favour of these injured veterans, the government must put things in place to fix this injustice.”

“The NDP has repeatedly called on the federal government to end the unfair SISIP reductions,” said Chicoine. “The National Defence and Canadian Forces Ombudsman issued two reports urging the government to resolve this unfair reduction but the Government kept trying to delay. I hope they will now do the right thing.”

In 2006, the House of Commons passed a NDP motion to end this unfair reduction of veterans’ disability pension benefits from their SISIP benefits. The court challenge was launched by veterans in 2007 in response to inaction by the federal government.

Stoffer also extended congratulations to Dennis Manuge, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit and a constituent of his riding, as well as the thousands of other injured veterans who supported the case.

“Icall on this government to do the right thing and end the unfair SISIP reductions immediately.