Nearly a dozen years ago, Micheal McNeil was hit with an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. The former combat engineer, who is now a 40-year-old father of three in Saint John, N.B., has traded a fight with the Taliban for a constant battle with the federal government instead.
“They want you to walk away. They’re literally: delay, deny, watch you die,” he says.
“They want you to walk away from the benefits. They don’t want you to get them. And that’s why they make it so hard.”
McNeil is one of tens of thousands of Canadian veterans who sustained long-term injuries from their military service and are now waiting to find out whether Veterans Affairs Canada will approve their disability claims.
In McNeil’s case, he has been waiting more than two years to find out whether the seizures he started experiencing in 2018 will be recognized as related to his service in uniform. If so, his family would receive benefits if he dies from the condition.
The disability benefits backlog has emerged over the past five years as a major source of stress, frustration and fear inside Canada’s veterans community.
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