A Dirty Little Skirmish
By: David T. MacLeod & Harold Leduc
16.00USD
The title – A Dirty Little Skirmish – is a metaphor depicting a small dogged fight. A skirmish can broadly be explained as an episode of irregular fighting, usually occurring on the periphery of the main battle. The description is an appropriate one for veterans. Each day, individual veterans fight a bureaucracy whose culture of denial hampers veterans’ injury claims. These fights on the periphery, these skirmishes, are ugly.Access to benefits and services for veterans and their families is the underlying theme throughout the book. Denied or delayed access to a benefit is a benefit denied. Families bear the brunt of political and bureaucratic failure, families like yours: or Natasha Mohr’s.
The public has come to realize that veterans are fighting for the very things that the average Canadian is concerned about and that the Harper government has undermined: access to pensions, healthcare, the application of the rule of law, and human rights. What veterans are fighting for affects Canadians directly. This is not a foreign struggle for rights and freedoms. Veterans and their families are fighting the Canadian government: it’s a dirty little skirmish.
ISBN: 978-1-926476-04-9
Price: $16.00
Binding: Paperback
Date: 2015
Rights: World
Pages: 126
Size: 6” x 9”-
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Table of Acronyms
DedicationINTRODUCTION
By: David MacLeod1. How Harper’s Government Views Veterans – and the Canadian Public
By: David MacLeod2. The Veteran Affairs Canada Application Process Explained
By: Harold Leduc3. Veteran Review & Appeal Board’s Denial Culture
By: David MacLeod4. An Evidence-Based Approach
By: David MacLeod5. Guidance for the Parliamentary and Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs
By: Harold Leduc6. Guidance to Veterans – Stand To!
By: Harold Leduc7. Skirmishing with the Veterans Review and Appeal Board
By: Natasha Mohr8. Conclusion
By: David MacLeodAbout the Authors
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David T. MacLeod & Harold Leduc
David T. MacLeod is a husband, father, veteran, small business owner, and the Liberal Candidate for Central Nova in the 2015 federal election. David served in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1982 to 2010 and deployed to Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, SW Asia, and Afghanistan. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies from the University of Manitoba and a Master of Arts specializing in Human Security & Peacebuilding from Royal Roads University. David is a Board Member of the Nova Scotia Disabled Persons Commission and is a participant in Historica Canada’s Memory Project Speaker Bureau. After military service David and Katarin returned to their roots in Nova Scotia. David’s young family includes two daughters, a horse, and a mastiff.
Harold Leduc has written numerous technical documents on veteran’s benefits and legislation for the Government of Canada including the co-authored, Honouring Canada’s Commitment: Opportunity with Security a document that led to the modernizations of benefits for Canadian Forces veterans. In?addition, Harold has prepared and presented briefs to Parliamentary and Senate Committees on veteran’s benefits. Harold served with distinction in the Canadian Army and was invested as a member of the Order of Military Merit. He served as Executive Officer and National President of the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association and also served two terms on the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. Harold has received numerous awards for his work for veterans including being one of the first to earn the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation and the Veterans Ombudsman’s Commendation. Other awards include the Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals and his bio is listed in the Canadian Who’s Who. He is currently a Board member with Equitas and is a technical advisor for a class action lawsuit to improve veteran’s benefits. Harold holds a Master of Arts in Conflict Analysis and Management from Royal Roads University.