Alerts on income benefits have fallen into the hands of nearly 700 terrorized survivors and relatives. Some of them lost loved ones in Afghanistan more than a decade ago. “My first thought was shock and surprise when I saw a letter to Matthew from Veterans Affairs that arrived in an official Veterans Affairs dossier,” said Lincoln Dining of Wingham, OD, whose son Cpl. Matthew Dining was killed by a roadside bomb in April 2006. “And from the very organization that’s supposed to take care of the veterans and their families. You’d think Veterans Affairs would have known that Matthew was killed in Afghanistan and has been dead for 16 years.” Lincoln Dinning, left, and Laurie Dinning show the medals of Canadian military service won by their son Cpl. Matthew Dinning at their home in Wingham, Ont. Dining was one of four Canadian soldiers killed when a light armored vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. (Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press)
The file arrived at the Dinning home at the end of February. His parents initially thought that Matthew’s identity had been stolen in some way and that his benefits had been taken from a criminal. It was not like that. Although Veterans Affairs – citing privacy concerns – declined to comment on Matthew Dinning’s case, it acknowledged after several emails with CBC News that the tax return was due to a computer error and was part of a much wider issue.

A “defect” in the electronic portal

The portal where former members of the army have access to their accounts was upgraded in January. That was when a “defect” occurred, department spokesman Josh Buckert said in a written statement to the media. This flaw led the department to issue 687 tax returns in the names of 417 dead veterans. They include soldiers killed in Afghanistan and those who served on peacekeeping missions during the Cold War – and may include soldiers who have already served in the Korean conflict. Veterans Affairs declined to explain how the mistake was made, except that it somehow included Income Allowance. That does not explain cases like that of Matthew Dinning, who did not receive veteran benefits when he was killed. A preliminary internal investigation was launched by the ministry in late February and both the Federal Finance Council and the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection were notified, Buckert said. Two formal complaints and one privacy complaint have been filed by the families of the deceased veterans, he added.

“Of course we are sorry”

Asked by CBC News about the incident this week outside the House of Commons, Veteran Secretary of State Lawrence Macaulay said officials were still trying to investigate what happened. He also apologized. “Of course we are sorry, and of course this should not happen,” MacAulay said. “I apologize … We know the situation and the breach is being handled properly to ensure it does not happen again.” Veteran Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay: “Of course, this should not happen.” (Ed Hunter / CBC)
The Office of the Veteran Ombudsman said it had received a complaint about the tax returns. A spokesman issued a two-line statement on behalf of the ombudsman, retired Colonel Nishika Jardine. Lincoln Dining said his family has not yet apologized. He is still struggling to figure out how the software could have removed Matthew’s name from the benefits database when he was not receiving benefits. “Because they were not the names of the 158 fallen soldiers [in Afghanistan] with a flag in the Veterans Affairs system? ” asked Dining. “Do you think they will know who the fallen soldiers were?” And why they did not have a red flag [for the developers]; “

“Heartbreaking and disgusting”

The founder of the Afghanistan Veterans Association, retired Dean Bruce Moncur, said the experience was “heartbreaking and horrific” for families still struggling with their losses. The fact that it took questions from the media to bring the issue to light and apologize publicly to the minister says a lot about the culture of indifference in Veterans Affairs, Moncur said. “The mentality of the insurance companies in the department has proven time and time again that we are just numbers for them,” he said. “And it’s good to make a mistake and blame it on a computer, but unfortunately, these computer errors seem to happen over and over again.” Nearly a dozen years ago, Veterans Affairs found that it had miscalculated $ 165 million in calculating the benefits of more than 272,000 former soldiers, sailors and aircraft crews – mostly elderly World War II and Korean War veterinarians. This error, which resulted from a confusing calculation of disability awards, went unnoticed for almost eight years. When the department discovered and corrected the indexing error in 2010, it did not notify any of the affected veterans and essentially buried the matter. It was not made public until former veteran ombudsman Guy Parent whistled shortly before retiring in the fall of 2018. The federal government compensated the surviving veterans and the assets of those who had died in the meantime. Moncur said the latter mistake could also have been swept under the rug. At the very least, he said, the department should offer counseling to affected families if they need it.