Feds owe better long-term rehab to wounded soldiers: Senators

The committee on security and defence released an interim report Tuesday examining the care given soldiers from the moment they are hit on the battlefield to rehabilitation back in Canada.

It found the treatment wounded soldiers receive in Kandahar and at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, is "top notch."

But the committee chair, Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, says more needs to be done for those with long-term rehabilitation issues, especially reservists.

"It's basic stuff that, frankly, they should be getting right," Kenny told The Canadian Press after the report was tabled.

Reservists, who make up over 20 per cent of the 2,500 troops deployed in Kandahar, do not receive the same benefits as members of the regular force. For example, some who lose a limb under the current system receive less than half the compensation of a career soldier.

"We have a duty of care to these reservists," said Kenny. "They make up a substantial portion of our force and we couldn't function in Afghanistan without them."

Defence Minister Peter MacKay agreed there should be no distinction between soldiers.

"A reservist whose need for care arises from military duty is entitled to the same care as his or her Regular Force counterparts," the minister said in an email Tuesday.

And indeed soldiers are given the same level of acute care through the military medical system, but differences emerge in after-hospital benefits and in follow-up care.

MacKay did not say was whether the Tories are committed to rewriting those benefits and improving the tracking of reservists, who often return to their civilian jobs following their overseas tours.

His email response noted $9 million was set aside in the 2008-09 defence budget to deal with issues surrounding medical care for the wounded.

Liberal MP Dan McTeague, a long-time advocate for wounded soldiers, says the Conservative government "remains oblivious to the inequality that still exists" between soldiers.

Although not part of the report's recommendations, Kenny said National Defence should revive a proposal, drawn up under former defence minister Gordon O'Connor, to award a medal to soldiers wounded in combat.

Currently those injured on the battlefield are entitled to wear a wound stripe on their uniforms, but it is discretionary and Kenny says there has to be recognition that "individuals not only served in theatre, but paid an extra price."

The idea was batted around the department in 2006, but seemed to go nowhere, partly because some veterans were opposed to giving up the stripe system, part of Canada's understated military tradition.

The Senate report, titled Bringing Our Wounded Home Safely, also recommended that the Defence Department, in conjunction with the corporate sector, erect regional rehabilitation centres for wounded soldiers and their families.

The level of care for members of the military, much like Canada's public health-care system, is uneven throughout the country.

"It is the committee's belief that Canadian military personnel wounded in the service of their country should receive one standard of rehabilitative treatment when they return home: first class," the nine-member panel concluded.

"If all provinces cannot or will not provide this first-class level of treatment, the federal government should step in and ensure that it is made available to every wounded returnee."

Kenny says the best military rehabilitation care can be found in Edmonton and it should be used as a model for other centres across the country.

The Defence Department and Veterans Affairs Canada last year embarked on a multimillion-dollar program to open specialized clinics in key locations across the country to help battle post-traumatic stress among returning soldiers.

Much of the Senate report echoes concerns put on the record by the Canadian Forces acting ombudsman last spring, but Kenny says the extension of the mission in Kandahar until 2011 adds to the urgency.

The report says about 280 soldiers have been physically wounded. It's unclear whether that number distinguishes between casualties evacuated from theatre and soldiers who have been hurt and returned to their unit.

A total of 395 have been sent home to Canada on compassionate grounds, including stress disorders.

As of Tuesday, 90 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in the line of duty.