Systemic Reviews

Spouses Supporting Transition explores the lived experiences of 13 spouses of CAF Veterans, who medically-released between 2006 and 2016 and who self-identified as having successfully transitioned.

The Office of the Veterans Ombudsman’s (OVO) 2017 project, Transitioning Successfully: A Qualitative Study, identified spouses as one of the greatest sources of support for medically-released Veterans who self- identified as having successfully transitioned to civilian life. Spouses Supporting Transition seeks to better understand the lived experiences of spouses supporting Veterans through the transition process.

The Office of the Veterans Ombudsman (OVO) received a complaint from a Veteran about not being advised, when potentially eligible, about the Supplementary Retirement Benefit (SRB) and the eligibility requirements; i.e., tied to eligibility for the Earnings Loss Benefit. This advice shortcoming may be because any amount payable through ELB would be offset by CAF-LTD (both payable at the same rate), and therefore there was no perceived advantage of applying for it.

The Office of the Veterans Ombudsman is pleased to publish the Financial Compensation for Canadian Veterans: A Comparative Analysis of Benefit Regimes report.

Over the past 12 months, the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman has monitored the implementation of Pension for Life in an effort to better understand its impact on Veterans. The results of that work – including a number of recommendations to Government – and a supporting analysis of benefit regimes are contained in this report.

To investigate complaints from Reserve Force Veterans that the calculation of the Income Replacement Benefit (IRB) – formerly the Earnings Loss Benefit (ELB) - for service-related injury can lead to unfair outcomes compared to Regular Force Veterans in similar circumstances.

I am pleased to publish my report Meeting Expectations: Timely and Transparent Decisions for Canada’s Ill and Injured Veterans. It focuses on the most common complaint my Office hears from Veterans: the length of time it takes to get a disability benefit decision from Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).

I am pleased to publish the research findings for Transitioning Successfully: A Qualitative Study. Based on the lived experiences of medically-released Veterans who self-identified as having successfully transitioned, this study highlights some of the factors that contribute to a successful transition as well as the challenges that Veterans and their families face during the transition to civilian life.

I am pleased to publish Continuum of Care: A Journey from Home to Long Term Care. It is a report that considers current challenges faced by Veterans as they age and/or require more care, and it makes recommendations to address challenges Veterans encounter along the continuum of care journey: at home, in assisted living and in long term care (LTC).

I am pleased to publish The Actuarial Analysis Follow-up Report. Its purpose is to update my 2013 Actuarial Analysis and evaluate the improvements to the New Veterans Charter since 2013.

The focus of this report will be analyzing benefits available to those injured in the line of duty. Specifically, we will analyze the two income replacement Economic benefits available to disabled Veterans under Part 2 of the NVC; the Earnings Loss Benefit and the Retirement Income Security Benefit.