Recommended Legislative Changes

The Veterans Well-Being Act and its accompanying Regulations form the framework for the Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) decision makers to assess the viability of your claim. You can read these documents in their entirety here: Veterans Well Being Act   Veterans Well Being Regulation.

Unfortunately this legislation currently does not meet the standard of the American's Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.  An overview of this Act can be read here: PACT ACT Overview.  Given this Veterans with Cancer Inc.has partnered with the National Council of Veterans Associations (NCVA) to lobby politicians to upgrade the Veterans Well-Being Act to meet the standard set by the American PACT Act.

The Canadian government, through VAC, should enact legislation to parallel the American Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act by incorporating the changes listed here:

  1. Expand 50(g) presumptive conditions for exposure to environmental hazards and burn pits to include all conditions identified by the American PACT Act, and automatically assume that, by virtue of a veteran having one of these conditions, it must be due to their service.

  2. Presume a service connection and create a form of automatic entitlement for veterans with cancer, if the veteran served in a certain place at a certain time. For example, toxic exposures from burn pits, contaminated water and Agent Orange on specific CAF Bases.

  3. Recognize environmental hazards include the Agents classified in Groups 1, 2A and 2B on the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) List of Classifications available here IARC List of Classifications

  4. Expand and reinforce the the Veterans Well-Being Regulation 50(g) statement that veterans do not need to prove their cancer is service related in the absence to evidence to the contrary.

  5. Include in the modified legislation a Stare Decisis requirement for VAC and the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) to adhere to previous decisions and judgments when assessing claims involving cancer.

Read VACs Lessons Learned Paper on Presumptive Conditions