The Canadian Forces ombudsman says he's become increasingly troubled by the government's treatment of a number of military families who have lost a relative during military service.
Pierre Daigle writes in an open letter posted on his website Thursday that families are not getting timely information about the death of their loved ones and are not permitted to take an active part in any inquiry related to the incident that follows such a death or serious injury. Nor has the Canadian Forces put in place a national policy for support to families of its deceased members.
Although he has outlined these problems four times in letters to Peter MacKay, Mr. Daigle says the Defence Minister has provided only "disappointing" and insignificant responses.
"Instead of being cared for respectfully and compassionately, some military families are being forced to fight for their loved ones - loved ones who died for their country," Mr. Daigle writes.
Mr. Daigle says that, in order to "humanize" these problems for the minister, he wrote to him in April of 2010, detailing the troubling experiences of six military families after the death of their Canadian Forces loved one.
That letter outlines the cases of:
» The Fynes family who have been waiting for two and a half years to get responses to concerns that have been lingering since their son's death;
» A mother who is still fighting to get access to information regarding the death of her son in 2003;
» A widow who has been waiting for a year and a half to get access to a Summary Investigation report into the death of her husband;
» A father who says he feels he has been treated as an enemy by the Canadian Forces since the disappearance and death of his son in the fall of 2003;
» The case of a widow who has been waiting more than four years for a copy of the Board of Inquiry report following the death of her Canadian Forces husband.
"With these disturbing cases, I wanted to demonstrate to the Minister that the problems endured by families in 2005 are still affecting families in 2010. And I wanted him and the Canadian Forces to finally take action to address the problems that we have raised over many months and years," Mr. Daigle writes.
"In August 2010, I received another response from the Minister. Unfortunately, it provided little in terms of new information and there has been no significant movement on the part of the Canadian Forces to make much needed change, including providing grieving families with briefings, reports and responses regarding the loss of their family member... Families who lose a military loved one deserve more than encouraging words, or a bureaucratic response pointing to commitments to improve care and service. they deserve real action."
In response, Mr. MacKay said Thursday he has asked his department to address the ombudsman's concerns. "I consider the care and compassion of CF families to be of utmost importance in my position and to the Canadian Forces," he said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail.
"We will always do everything we can to provide the families of the defence community the support they need. At times, like any large institution, we'll drop the ball but we will pick it up on the first bounce and keep running with it. I've directed my officials to ensure outstanding matters pertaining to these issues are resolved as quickly as possible."