Disabled veterans vow to continue fight with government despite legal setback
OTTAWA — A group of veterans vowed to keep fighting the federal government Monday after the B.C. Court of Appeal rejected their landmark legal effort to win back lifelong disability pensions for former members of the military.
A three-judge Appeal Court panel threw out the five-year-old lawsuit alleging the government discriminated against disabled veterans when it changed the way those injured in the line of service are compensated.
Chief among the most controversial changes, implemented in 2006, was replacing lifelong disability pensions with a lump-sum payment, career training and targeted income support — a regime known as the New Veterans Charter.
The six veterans involved in the lawsuit claimed the charter provided veterans with about 40 per cent less over a lifetime than the previous pensions, which they want re-instated or replaced with a true equivalent.