Retired veteran Scott Costen upset about wait for pension, benefits

An Ottawa veteran says he's waited too long for his pension and benefits after he was medically released in February.

Scott Costen said he served 15 years as a reservist and full member of the Canadian Forces, including a six month tour of Afghanistan starting in 2009.

He said he developed post-traumatic stress disorder and was medically released from the military on Feb. 3. He said he was expecting to start getting his pension and medical benefits he had been paying into within four to six weeks.

On Monday, he copied the media on an email to his west Ottawa MP, Carleton-Mississippi Mills representative Gordon O'Connor, criticizing O'Connor and the government for being unable to help him get his payments in the more than four months since his release.

"I expected in a reasonable amount of time that I would get the benefits and the pension I paid into and was promised by the military and that hasn't happened," he said in an interview on Tuesday.

Line of credit needed

Costen said one of his "six or seven" different medications is paid for by Veterans Affairs and he is getting some payment from the Department of National Defence's SISIP financial service.

However, he said 75 to 80 per cent of his medication is supposed to be covered after his release, along with 75 per cent of the salary he had been earning for the first two years since his release.

"We're not destitute, every month you have to go into your line of credit to pay all the bills, the SISIP money comes in and you pay back the line of credit, it's the same thing the next month. If I had the pension the line of credit wouldn't be necessary," he said.

"There's anxiety, there's concern, there's frustration but it's not just the money, it's more just basic respect."

Minister: delay 'unacceptable'

Costen said he's been calling various government departments hoping to get a Veterans Affairs case manager or someone else to help him through the system, but most of his calls are ignored or directed elsewhere.

He said he suspects it's related to cuts to the federal public service and the current government is responsible for his situation.

Veterans Affairs Minister Erin O'Toole was travelling and unavailable for an interview about the issues, according to his office.

In an email statement, the minister called the delays "unacceptable."

"I have made it my mission as Minister to close the seam between the Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada," he said in the statement.

"Getting funding and benefits upon release from the Armed Forces should not be complicated or cumbersome.  I thank the Military Veteran both for his service to Canada and for raising this issue.‎"

O'Toole announced in April that the government would be hiring more than 100 new Veterans Affairs case managers to give one-on-one service, with the majority in the twelve months immediately afterward.

O'Toole's office did not respond to an email asking how many have been hired since that announcement.