My Five Years as Veterans Ombudsman

I wanted the team to believe that working at the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman was not just another job, but a unique opportunity to create the conditions for change that could deliver on the issues of concern to Veterans and their families. [...] When I started as Veterans Ombudsman, the Office was only three years old and was still dealing with hiring permanent staff, developing operational processes to manage the work effort and struggling to ensure that the team had the knowledge and the tools to support Veterans and challenge the status quo. [...] From the inception of the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman in 2007, one of the main priorities has been and continues to be a full understanding of all aspects of the New Veterans Charter suite of benefits, because this legislation is central to supporting —. 25. [...] The introduction of a lump sum payment to replace the monthly pension to compensate for pain and suffering became the main focus of public attention and the reason for calls to return to the Pension Act. [...] Under my predecessor, the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman had contracted an actuarial company to build a tool that would quickly allow us to assess the New Veterans Charter benefits in comparison to the benefits of the Pension Act.