Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, reacts as she greets war veterans after laying a wreath with her husband, Britain's Prince William, at the war memorial in Seymour Square
Catherine (L), the Duchess of Cambridge, reacts as she greets war veterans after laying a wreath with her husband, Britain's Prince William, at the war memorial in Seymour Square Reuters/Stringer

Canada’s Conservative Government has spent almost $700,000 in legal bills, fighting disabled Afghan war veterans in court. The injured and disabled soldiers, who were feeling cheated by the current benefits system, have taken the matter to court.

According to the Justice Department, a little more than $694,000 in legal fees have already been spent. The parliamentary order paper carrying that information was signed by Justice Minister Peter MacKay. The Canadian military and the Department of National Defence too spent more than $3,000 in the legal battle against the former soldiers, reports Canada News.

The wounded Afghan veterans in their class-action lawsuit in a British Columbia court, argued that the government’s New Veterans Charter violated their rights guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The new charter removed lifetime disability payments for injured military personnel and instituted a lump-sum payment in its place.

PM’s Defence

Prime Minister Stephen Harper sought to blame the ongoing court battle as the legacy of a flawed policy by Paul Martin's Liberal Government. "The Government is defending a decision of the previous regime, supported by all parties in the House of Commons," Harper said, referring to the New Veterans Charter, reports Huffington Post.

Liberal veterans affair critic Frank Valeriote described the Government's response as "hypocrisy" and noted the charter was not the problem but the amount of funding within it. "It is not that the new Veterans charter is the problem, it is the issue of adequacy of the funding given to those programs and the sufficiency of the awards given to veterans through the application of the charter," Valeriote said.

Spending $700,000 a year to fight vets in court is not supporting our troops, noted NDP Leader Tom Mulcair during a heated exchange with PM Harper.

Change the Charter

Valeriote asked the Conservatives to stop fighting the former soldiers and change the veterans charter. He said the case is the hallmark of this Government’s hypocrisy between what they say and what they do.

Valeriote said if the wounded Afghan veterans win their case in the B.C. Court of Appeal, the government may appeal it to the Supreme Court. That will again jack up the government’s legal costs to more than $1 million, he predicted.

NDP leader Tom Mulcair described the Government’s decision to spend money on fighting the veterans' case, as an example of the Conservatives not supporting former soldiers. He mentioned the case of one Afghan veteran, who had been struggling with depression and disability. When help was refused, he committed suicide.