A win for Canada’s veterans

Decision by Government to not appeal ruling is the right move says NDP

O****TTAWA – Official Opposition Veterans Affairs Critic Peter Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore) and Deputy Critic Sylvain Chicoine (Châteauguay-Saint-Constant) are pleased the federal government will not appeal the recent Federal Court decision on the Service Income Security Insurance Plan (SISIP) Long Term Disability payments that ruled in favour of injured veterans. The federal government had until May 31st to announce its intention to appeal.

“I want to congratulate Dennis Manuge of Nova Scotia, the lead plaintiff in this case, and a constituent of my riding, who had the courage to fight the unfair deductions of veterans’ disability payments,” said Stoffer. “I also want to congratulate Dennis’s legal team, McInnes Cooper, and the thousands of other injured veterans who supported the class action.”

“Today’s announcement is a tremendous win for Canada’s veterans and our entire caucus applauds this victory,” said Chicoine. “It is unfortunate that it took so long for these veterans to get justice but the right decision was finally made.”

Stoffer and Chicoine noted veterans’ have been fighting this issue in court since 2007 because of inaction by the federal government. The National Defence and Canadian Forces Ombudsman issued two reports urging the government to resolve this unfair reduction and in 2006, the House of Commons passed a NDP motion to end this unfair reduction of veterans’ disability pension benefits from their SISIP benefits.

“We now urge the federal government to move quickly to fix this injustice on behalf of injured veterans’ and their families,” added Stoffer.