Pension clawback ‘degrading,‘ veteran says

Wayne Wannamaker has a quiet, weary voice, but he is struggling to make it heard.

Wayne Wannamaker has a quiet, weary voice, but he is struggling to make it heard.

Wannamaker, a retired army veteran and devoted public servant, recently celebrated his 65th birthday.

The first present he received? A clawback from his pension, robbing him of more than $500 a month.

“It’s degrading,“ said Wannamaker, who is urging people to speak up about what he sees as an injustice and encouraging supporters to sign a petition.

“We’re talking about thousands of people that loyally served our country for many, many years. People that put their lives on the line,“ he said.

Wannamaker was recently present during a meeting of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, where Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor introduced a motion addressing this issue.

Acknowledging Wannamaker as the principle force behind the motion, Taylor urged the federal government to recognize “that the unilateral decision in 1966 to integrate the Canadian Forces Superannuation and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation with the Canada Pension Plan contributions imposed an injustice and unfairness upon members and retirees of the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.“

Put simply? Government legislation is stealing chunks of retired veterans’ pensions once they reach 65, Wannamaker said.

Taylor criticized the 1966 legislation, calling it an “injustice”.

She referenced the case of Don Cappler, a retired sergeant-major with 25 years’ service. Having joined the service at age 17 and retiring at 42, Cappler saw a $340 monthly drop in his income when he reached the age of 65.

Taylor also spoke about Wannamaker, who suffers from vascultitis, an incurable disease.

“Individuals such as my constituent have been unable to work, leaving his income reliant on pension income,“ she said.

In 2004, Wannamaker suffered an attack and was medevaced to Vancouver.

“I’m slowly dying, and I’m learning to live with that,“ said Wannamaker. In the meantime, it seems, he’s still got some fighting left to do.

(Wannamaker has also been instrumental in other veteran campaigns. Recently , he helped start a veteran licence plate program with the Royal Canadian Legion’s Yukon branch, and ensured that the Yukon government issued a special commemorative coin for veterans.)

Taylor spoke about the website that has been created to gather support for the campaign (http://www.petitiononline.com/vets8), and noted that 18,000 people have signed the petition. That includes 63 former military and RCMP officers.

“The decision (to pass the 1966 legislation) was imposed unilaterally without sufficient consultation and without members being made aware of the implications,“ said Taylor.

“The decision created unfairness, so that action should therefore be taken by the Government of Canada to address this unfairness.“

Before concluding, Taylor thanked Wannamaker again.

“Thanks to the efforts of individuals such as him, more and more Canadians are being made aware of the issue at hand and are taking action to have the matter reviewed…and remedied,“ she said.

When the motion went to a vote, it was unanimously carried. The Yukon’s is the first legislature to take up this issue.

Larry Bagnell, the Yukon’s MP, told the Star last Thursday that “this has been an issue for years,“ and said that he has been approached by a number of people on this subject.

However, now that the entire Yukon legislature is supporting the issue, he is optimistic that something will get done. He has approached the Ministers of Veteran Affairs,

Finance and Defence on this matter, and is waiting for a response.

“It’s a really complicated interaction,“ said Bagnell. “Nothing’s done quickly,“ he added, but if there is “enough political will,“ then a solution could be reached.

“This is very serious. These are people that put their lives on the line for their country, and the perception of injustice is something that definitely needs to be fixed…justice needs to be done,“ he said.

While the government deals with this, Wannamaker continues his work.

He is currently researching the effect of defoliate spray used by the army between the 1960s and ‘80s, and believes that Canadian soldiers exposed are more likely to get cancer.

He relates the situation to the use of Agent Orange by the United States in the Vietnam War.

Wannamaker was stationed at many bases across Canada during his 19-year career.

He also spent several years stationed in Germany. He worked with heavy equipment, was an ambulance driver, took parachute training, and completed a nine-month engineering school in 1975. He was the honour graduate, and was presented with a certificate in front of 3,000 troops in the parade square.

“That really was one of the proudest moments of my life,“ Wannamaker said.

Wannamaker has quite a few accomplishments he’s intensely proud of, and has a wealth of stories he’s ready to share.

For instance, he has a signed certificate from former prime minister Jean Chretien hanging on his wall, thanking Wannamaker for 35 years of public service.

He worries that people may think he’s just looking for a “freebie”, but feels that the pension issue should be pursued nonetheless.

Along with Cathy, his wife of 38 years, Wannamaker enjoys camping and going on RV road trips. He has three grown daughters-Angie, Stephanie and Heather.

He regularly attends army reunions and travels to visit family, though it can be hard because of his health.

The biggest thorn in his side since the pension clawback? Gasoline.

“I tell my daughters, that’s the very word you have to forget: gas,“ said Wannamaker.

Then he laughed, the deep wrinkles around his eyes darkening. He adjusted his “Support Your Troops” baseball cap, and shrugged.

“What can you do?“ he asked.

Perhaps that’s a fight for another day.