OTTAWA -- A New Brunswick veteran will lose his house and property this Friday because of Veterans’ Affairs and Minister Steven Blaney refusal to discuss the matter.
A year ago, Cpl Fabien Melanson gained national attention when he was compelled to engage in a hunger-strike at VAC headquarters in Charlottetown. The former Van Doo was protesting VAC’s repeated failure to take responsibility for a clerical error which sent his pension to the wrong bank account for 5 straight months. Cpl Melanson was fully prepared to die, just as he was as a member of the Canadian Forces. The loss of income caused him to halt renovations to his 160 year-old ancestral home in St-Andre Leblanc, leaving it damaged and unliveable. He ceased his hunger strike after promises were made to him that the situation would be rectified.
In an official letter, dated last June, Veterans Affairs acknowledged their error and the financial hardship it caused. Privately, the Department told Cpl Melanson that it had “no mechanism” for addressing the harm done to him.
Minister Blaney has the authority to issue ex gratia payments - outside of policy – in such situations. Corporal Melanson has been appealing to Minister Blaney for assistance for a year without response. This lack of response has compelled the mortgage holder, Bridgewater Bank, to proceed with legal action and sale of the property this Friday, June 1st, 2012.
“I find it utterly astounding that a bureaucracy that was established to assist veterans has no mechanism to rectify its own mistakes that cause harm to the very people it is empowered to assist,” said John Percy, Veterans Affairs Critic for the Green Party of Canada. “A full year of no communication has taken a proud Canadian who willingly offered his service to his country and reduced him to homelessness and despair. This is inexcusable, heartless and shameful. All Canadians should be disgusted by this dithering and inaction.”
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Debra Eindiguer
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