The Veterans' Bill of Rights is a bill of rights

Bill of rights

A bill of rights is a list of the most important rights of the citizens of a country. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement. The term "bill of rights" originates from England, where it referred to the Bill of Rights 1689. Bills of rights may be entrenched or...

 in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 for veteran

Veteran

A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...

s of the Canadian Forces

Canadian Forces

The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...

 and Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

. It was enacted by the federal government in 2007

2007 in Canada

Events from the year 2007 in Canada.-January to March:*January 5 - The domed roof of BC Place Stadium in Vancouver collapses.*January 11 - A major blizzard rips through Central Saskatchewan....

. It guarantees benefits for veterans from Veterans Affairs Canada

Veterans Affairs Canada

The Department of Veterans Affairs , also referred to as Veterans Affairs Canada , is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for pensions/benefits and services for war veterans, retired personnel of the Canadian Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, their families,...

 and equality of veterans, and refers to them as "special citizens." It also theoretically "entrenches respect and dignity

Dignity

Dignity is a term used in moral, ethical, and political discussions to signify that a being has an innate right to respect and ethical treatment. It is an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable rights...

 for veterans and their families."

History

In the 2006 federal election

Canadian federal election, 2006

The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...

, the Conservative Party of Canada

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

 campaigned for veterans' rights. The Conservatives said a bill of rights would remedy what they saw as the "shameful way" veterans were handled by the government. In December 2005, Conservative leader Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper

Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...

 claimed, "We continue to receive complaints that the department is not service-oriented... that is, the bureaucracy

Bureaucracy

A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...

 treats people as a bureaucracy and a number and that's obviously why we're making the bill of rights, the ombudsman and the structural changes we're talking about to try to shift that focus." The Conservatives formed a minority government. A lawyer named Lisa Keenan wrote that "Partisanship aside, these commitments have been long overdue."

Parliamentary secretary Betty Hinton

Betty Hinton

Betty Zane Hinton is a Canadian politician, previously representing the constituency of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo in the federal parliament....

 assisted the introduction of the bill of rights, as did veterans' groups. In April 2007, Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 Harper and Minister of Veterans Affairs

Minister of Veterans Affairs (Canada)

The Minister of Veterans Affairs is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet whose position was created in 1944. The Department of Veterans Affairs Canada was split from the Department of Pensions and National Health and was given the responsibility of administering benefits and pensions...

 Greg Thompson

Greg Thompson

Gregory Francis Thompson, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who served six terms as an MP.Thompson, a businessman and financial planner was first elected into the Canadian House of Commons in the Canadian federal election, 1988 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada...

 told the press in Kitchener, Ontario

Kitchener, Ontario

The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

 that the bill of rights would come into effect then and there would be a new ombudsman

Ombudsman

An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...

 for veterans along with it. This discussion took place at around the same time as Harper was about to observe an anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge

Battle of Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military engagement fought primarily as part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the Canadian Corps, of four divisions, against three divisions of the German Sixth Army...

 in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Earlier, the Conservatives' budget included $19 million to introduce the ombudsman's office.

Text

The Bill contains seven rights and is meant to be "clear and concise." It reads,

See also

• Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
  
  
• Canadian Bill of Rights
  Canadian Bill of Rights
  The Canadian Bill of Rights is a federal statute and bill of rights enacted by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's government on August 10, 1960. It provides Canadians with certain quasi-constitutional rights in relation to other federal statutes...
  
  
• Canadian Human Rights Act
  Canadian Human Rights Act
  The Canadian Human Rights Act is a statute originally passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be victims of discriminatory practices based on a set prohibited grounds such as gender, disability, or...