The ''Veterans' Bill of Rights'' is a bill of rights in

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for

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

s of the

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

and

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

.Melinda Dalton, "Harper unveils vets bill of rights; PM visits region to make policy announcement," ''The Record'', Kitchener, Ontario: April 4, 2007, pg. A.1. It was enacted by the

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2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. It guarantees benefits for veterans from Veterans Affairs Canada and equality of veterans, and refers to them as "special citizens." It also theoretically "entrenches respect and

dignity Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...

for veterans and their families."Mike Blanchfield, "Little thrown at military front: Spending as promised, new ombudsman office," ''

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'', March 20, 2007, pg. A.5.

History

In the 2006 federal election, the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

campaigned for veterans' rights.CBC News,
Canada's veterans get bill of rights
" April 3, 2007, URL accessed 3 April 2007. The Conservatives said a bill of rights would remedy what they saw as the "shameful way" veterans were handled by the government.CBC News,

" December 28, 2005, URL accessed 3 April 2007. In December 2005, Conservative leader

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

claimed, "We continue to receive complaints that the department is not service-oriented... that is, the

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

treats people as a bureaucracy and a number and that's obviously why we're making the bill of rights, the ombudsman and the structural changes we're talking about to try to shift that focus." The Conservatives formed a minority government. Parliamentary secretary

Betty Hinton Betty Zane Hinton (born February 22, 1950) is a Canadian politician, previously representing the constituency of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo in the federal parliament. Born in Trail, British Columbia, Hinton has served as mayor of Logan Lake ...

assisted the introduction of the bill of rights, as did veterans' groups. In April 2007,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Harper and Minister of Veterans Affairs

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told the press in

Kitchener, Ontario ) , image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_blank_emblem = Logo of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , blank_emblem_type = ...

that the bill of rights would come into effect then and there would be a new

ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

for veterans along with it. This discussion took place at around the same time as Harper was about to observe an anniversary of the

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.Jay Hill, "Doing what's right for our veterans," ''Alaska Highway News'', April 6, 2007, pg. B.5.CTV.ca News Staff,
PM announces veterans' ombudsman, bill of rights
" April 3, 2007, URL accessed 3 April 2007. Earlier, the Conservatives' budget included $19 million to introduce the ombudsman's office.

Text

The Bill of Rights contains seven rights and is meant to be "clear and concise." It reads:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veterans' Bill Of Rights 2007 in Canada Canadian federal legislation Veterans' affairs in Canada National human rights instruments Royal Canadian Mounted Police

History

Text

See also

References