A veteran who lost his legs in Afghanistan is frustrated that the government is forcing him to fill out paperwork to confirm that he is still a double-amputee.
Retired Master Cpl. Paul Franklin was injured in a 2006 suicide car bombing that killed diplomat Glyn Berry and critically injured his fellow soldiers. He eventually learned to walk again with prosthetics, and was awarded the Sacrifice Medal by the Governor General, but is still required to have a doctor sign his forms in order to get his disability benefits.
“These are questions that are still being asked 10 years after my incident,” he said of the forms.
Franklin said he sees “the humour in it, the absurdity,” but he still finds it frustrating, and points out other veterans might be even more frustrated.
National Defence Ombudsman Gary Walbourne said there are between 2,400 and 2,500 permanently incapacitated veterans like Franklin who shouldn’t have to face so much paperwork.
“Can we call these folks?” he suggested. “Can we pick up the phone and ask, ‘Has anything changed, can we do more help you?’”
Although the former Conservative government had promised to reduce the frequency of the paperwork for veterans like Franklin, the Liberals defend the policy.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said that the form is a generic one needed “for making sure we can provide the right service and that we can continually assess, because things may change for other veterans as well.”
Sajjan stressed that he was “in no way trying to minimize the sacrifice that has been made.”
Former Chief of Defence Staff Gen. (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk also defended the questionnaire in a recent parliamentary committee meeting, calling it “un-intrusive” and “caring.”
Franklin doesn’t see it that way, and wonders whether they will still be "asking these questions when I'm 90?”
With a report from CTV’s Mercedes Stephenson in Ottawa
