Remembrance Forgotten: Seventy Years of Neglect and Our Obligation to Canadian Forces Veterans
Creators: name: Bruyea, Sean
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Ethics
subject: Public Policy
subject: Canadian Forces
subject: Military Recruitment
subject: Cult
subject: Morals
subject: Morality
subject: CF
subject: Culture
subject: Military Culture
subject: Psychology
subject: FOS: Psychology
subject: FOS: Psychology
subject: Veteran
subject: Military History
subject: Military Law
subject: Indoctrination
subject: New Veterans Charter
subject: Transformation
subject: Transition
subject: Total Institutions
subject: Sean Bruyea
subject: Identity
subject: Total Institution
subject: Reestablishment
subject: Charity
subject: Military Family
subject: World War II
subject: Peacekeeping
subject: Rhetoric
subject: Obligation
subject: Covenant
subject: Socialization
subject: Care
subject: Veterans Affairs
subject: Department of National Defence
subject: Broken Promises
subject: Unlimited Liability
subject: Persuasion
subject: Janowitz
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Self-advocacy
subject: Autonomy
subject: Social Policy
subject: Post-war Canada
subject: Social Services
subject: Compassion
subject: War
subject: Combat,
subject: Disability
subject: Injured Soldiers
subject: Canadian Air Force
subject: Canadian Navy
subject: Canadian Army
subject: Rehabilitation
subject: Major Todd
subject: Walter Segsworth

description: Military service places demands upon serving members unparalleled in civilian life. Serving in the Canadian Forces (CF) is no different. The sacrifice required to wear a CF uniform extends far beyond the commonly understood injuries and fatalities of military combat, peacekeeping and routine training accidents. Like all militaries, the CF employs complex cultural, psychological and socialization processes that molds and reconditions civilians into highly disciplined and moralized individuals willing to enter harm’s way and kill or be killed. Although these complex processes may be beneficial to military objectives, they can be highly detrimental to successful reintegration into civilian society. Yet Canada has never articulated a tangible universal obligation to assist CF veterans in overcoming or compensating for the consequences of military service. Do we have a universal obligation to our CF veterans? Why? What would be the nature of a universal obligation to our CF veterans? This thesis seeks to answer these questions. Contrary to popular perception, military life is a moral life. Such morality is the bitter enemy of duplicitous rhetoric and government inaction. These deeply indoctrinated moral values are also the measuring stick for the highly unequal sacrifice that CF members have endured on behalf of Canada and Canadians and the complete absence of any obligation we have reciprocated for their service. For these reasons and more, as a nation and as individuals, we have a substantive universal obligation to all our CF veterans to comprehensively assist them in making their life out of uniform at least as successful and rewarding as it was in military service.