Federal veterans ombudsman abruptly resigns

The country's veteran's ombudsman has resigned less than halfway through his term, the federal government announced Monday.

Retired colonel Craig Dalton, a 25-year veteran of the Canadian army, only held the watchdog post for a little over 18 months.

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced the ombudsman's departure in a media statement, suggesting that Dalton was leaving for another job.

Dalton's split with the department appears to be amicable. The minister wished him well and praised his accomplishments, saying "Dalton demonstrated exceptional leadership and showed care, compassion and respect for our veterans and their families." 

The process of selecting a new ombudsman is underway, MacAulay added.

Dalton was the country's third veteran's watchdog — a position created almost 13 years ago by the former Conservative government in response to a rising number of complaints about government services coming from the veterans community.

Last winter, Dalton went to bat for families of injured soldiers who had been cut off from counselling benefits because of a sweeping re-interpretation of the federal department's long-standing policy.

More significantly, perhaps, Dalton made it clear to the Liberal government last summer that he believed the mandate of the veterans ombudsman should be reviewed because he felt the watchdog's office had lost the trust of some former soldiers and their families.

He wanted an independent review to look at, among other things, whether the ombudsman should report directly to Parliament rather than to the veterans minister.

Dalton based his assessment on what said he'd heard while criss-crossing the country for meetings with veterans groups, advocates and individual former soldiers.

In many cases, he said, he received an earful from people who told him they felt it was a waste of time to step forward with complaints.

"I am concerned with what has been reflected to me around lack of trust in our office, questioning what value we offer to veterans, noting that we're not independent enough to generate confidence in veterans," Dalton told CBC News. "That's something that is important and we need to look at it."

He said at the time that there was a growing belief among veterans that the ombudsman's office doesn't have the jurisdiction or the independence to deal with the most pressing personal and systemic issues facing former military and RCMP members.

"Having our office report to the legislature is certainly something I think is worth looking at," said Dalton, who was not prepared at the time to recommend that the veterans ombudsman become a full-fledged officer of Parliament, similar to the auditor general and the parliamentary budget officer.

MacAulay said last summer he believed such a review would be a good idea, but was fuzzy on whether the watchdog should report directly to Parliament.

Shortly after Dalton's remarks, last fall's federal election was called and the matter was dropped.