Former soldier shocked by $81,000 bill from Veterans Affairs

Dean Campbell sometimes sees bombs dropping, smells things burning, hears the sounds of war.

Hisflashbacks are symptoms ofpost-traumatic stress syndrome, and can betriggered by loud noises, large crowds or stress.

The latest bout, he said, was brought on bya letter from Veterans Affairs Canada.

According to the government, the former warrant officerowes his country $81,272.10.

Part of the problem can be traced to aclass-action lawsuit settledin 2014. The court ruled thatveterans with disabilities were entitled to lump-sum payments tocompensate for cost-of-living increases dating back to the 1970s, increasesrequired undertheirlong-term disability plan.

Campbell said his one-time payment from that settlement wasclose to $112,000.

In a letter sent in May, Veterans Affairs told Campbell he had been overpaid under the Service Income Security Insurance Plan by a total of$74,252.10between 2012 and 2016. The letter said he had also received a separateoverpayment of $7,020.

The government wantsall themoney back.

"When I first saw it, I thought it was unbelievable," said Campbell, who wasmedically discharged in 2006after a 25-year career that includedtours of duty in Bosnia, Croatia and Afghanistan.

"I had no indication they would be clawing back anything to this extent, maybe a small reduction."

Veteran Affairswould not answer questions about Campbell's case, but issued this statement: "There are a number of situations that can cause an overpayment such as untimely reporting of other earnings or retroactive payments from other sources.

"In accordance with the Financial Administration Act, the department may recover overpayments by deduction from any future payments. It is always difficult to hear of any individual who is going through a hard time and who does not feel they are receiving the support they need."

Dennis Manning, director of benefit operations with Veteran Affairs, said there are several reasons why overpayments might be issued to veterans.

"This could be your Armed Forces pension," said Manning. "It could be employment disability insurance, workers' (compensation)or types of earning. What happens is if your income is late being reported, a payment would have went out and that would create an overpayment situation."

He would not say whetheran overpayment as hefty as the one assessed toCampbellwas typical.

Campbell, who lives on aretirement acreage east of Sherwood Park,has been offered a monthly plan that would see him pay back close to $1,000 per month.

But he said the total amount owing is causing a lot of stress.

"It will take us two to three years to recuperate that," he said. "It's almost two years of my salary that they want back. That's a lot of money."

Campbell has already filed an appeal and hopesto find out why the government is taking back most of the money he was planning to use on home renovations.

"Everything is on hold. We're in a worse situation than we were before the class-action lawsuit."

Travis.mcewan@cbc.ca

@Travismcewancbc