11

and the last war,

#; deal more if the mistakes
atter the last war} and the
dee and suffering they pro-
ii, are to be avoided.
fie rough draft of
e lies beside me. ‘
Bp it spent seven hours going
fmy colléction of newspaper
ngs on the subject, compar-
he “facts”? I gleaned with
legally worded order in
al numbered P.C. 7633, the
far’ Discharge Reestablish-
§ Order Then I made up
“ind to draw up a brief,
| 1 analysis of the order.

my newspapers, including
vanadian Press News, dis-
ed iree to troops overseas,
“the American Magazine,
2t, have reported this pro-
* Superficially, and with
* errors in factual matters.
mg so, they committed an
ce to servicemen and
@S alike. No plan will work
vely if the people directly
med do not understand it,
ing that it is a workabie
ivyhose merits outweigh: its
its. This applies equally to
workable plan, because the
rit is understood by the
_ the quicker it ean be
ied oer scrapped for a
one.

‘iy these principies in mind,
went this brief summary of
plan, adding one or two
pus, and a comment here

this

wment and Placement and
ace Service: The service-
as assured that he will get
nd job back, under condi-
forresponding to those ob-
§; when he left to join the
| provided, of course, that
nployer still has the job
© equivalent to offer and
»© is still capable of hold-
Obviously, the exservice-
B7ho was an office boy, or
‘ger, will not care to go
#2 his old job at $8°a week
sServins four years, and
‘acquiring a wife and
(a Britain. Then, many jobs
m8er exist because of the
in methods of produc-
losing up of small firms
Wartime -conditions, and

aia BO

Supplement to this guar-
the federal government
ites preferences to ex-

2

Last

hen the Boy

— = a

The men and women now serving in our
armed forces are looking to the people at
home to shape the kind of Canada, in which
there will be assurance of the economic secur-
ity and social progress, they are fighting for.

By CPL. JACK PHILLIPS

HIS is the second of two articles on the rehabilitation
| of men and women now in
cles, presented as the personal views of a soldier now
jz overseas, are published as
i's on this important question,

the armed forces. The

the introduction to a
to which veterans of

i trade union leaders and others
ne been invited to contribute.

n his first article, published in The People of April 29,

§ Jack Phillips dealt with rehabilitation grants, remedial
fical facilities and vocational training facilities. He wrote:

ms and arrangements demand that there should be a

servicemen in civil service em-

ployment. Nearly every provin- -

cial and municipal government
in Canada has done likewise.

Pensions for Disabilities: Tot-
ally disabled veterans will re-
ceive an allowance of $900 a
year if single and $1,200 a year
if married. The amount of $180
a year will be paid for upkeep
of the first child, $224 fer the
first two, and $120 a year for
each additional child. :

In cases of partial disability,
pensions will be paid on a per-
centage basis, that is, according
to percentage of earning power
Jost. If it is deemed that only
10 percent of earning power was
irrevocably lost through war
service, 10 percent of the rates
will be paid:

Such pensions are payable to
exservicemen who have served
cutside Canada, and, in certain
cases, to men who have served
only in Canada. 3

The file of every man _ dis-
eharged as unfit is examined
regularly and pensions may be
granted without formal applica-
tion. If a veteran wishes to
contest the award of the pen-
sions commission he may appeal
to the Pensions Appeal Board
for a higher pension. The wel-
fare division, the Canadian
Legion and any other recognized
exservicemen’s organization will
proyide him with necessary legal
advice.

Employment Service of Can-
ada: Offices througheut the coun-
try will assist exservicemen in
gnding employment. Citizens
committees have been set up in
many communities with the pur-
pose of promoting local employ-
ment and assisting in the re-
establishment of their own serv-
icemen.

The welfare department of the
Gepartment of pensions and
health will also have offices
throughout the country to ad-
vise exservicemen on any prob-
Jems connected with reestablish-
ment. :

Federal, provincial and muni-
cipal governments haye all de-
clared their intention of embark-
ing upon a: large scale program
of public works after the war,
vith a view to doing necessary
work and providing employment
for exservicemen and ex-war

s Come Home

Rehabilitation Head on Coast

after demobilization.

Plans Made for Navy Men

GOVERNMENT loans, vocational training and assistance in finding jobs

are included in a comprehensive rehabilitation plan outlined by Capt.
Paul B. Cross, VD, RCNVR, head of the navy s demobilization and re-
habilitation program, who has arrived on the Pacific Coast to set up
machinery for carrying out the plan. =

The scheme outlined by Capt. Cross is designed to provide for the
{ economic needs of every officer and men of the Royal Canadian Navy

“Demobilized men will not be handed anything on a silver platter,”
Capt. Cross warned. “We expect every man to work for what he gets,
and if he is willing he will be assisted.” —
- If a man wishes to buy a farm, fishboat or homestead, the government
will assist him up to $4,800, plus $1,200 for stock and implements where
purchase of a farm is involved.

Living allowances of $10.20 a week for Single men and $14.40 for
married men will be given to exservicemen taking
courses under the scheme.

(These living allowances have been sha
as “utterly inadequate”

vocational and academic

rply criticized in many quarters
even by prewar standards,
account the greatly increased cost of living since 1939.)

Under this scheme, the exservicemen will be able to learn a trade which
will help to make him selfsupporting, For 52 weeks in the first 18 months
after discharge, the standard allowance will
attending a trade school, and

be paid to the exservicemen
if an extension is necessary it may be granted.

without taking into

workers in the transition period
from wartime to peacetime pro-
duction. :

It is to be hoped that a real
start will be made in housing,
road building, reforestation, and
conservation of natural resources
and development of new indus-
tries—oil fields requiring goyern-
ment planning and financing.
But unless such projects Pay the
recognized trade union rates of
pay, and not relief rates, they
will defeat one of their basic
aims, to make  exservicemen
self-supporting.

The - exserviceman unable to
secure work immediately after
Gischarge will be entitled to
draw the standard benefits for
any 52 weeks in the first 18
months after discharge, but he
is not allowed to draw any bene-
fits for that period for which he
receives a rehabilitation grant.
Further, he must follow the in-
structions of the department of
health and pensions if he is di-
rected to a trade school during
the time he is in receipt of his
allowances: and if he has drawn
any benefits under the Unem-
ployment Insurance Act, the
period covered by these benefits
will be deducted from the period
for which he is entitled to draw
standard allowance.

If the exserviceman wishes to
resume his interrupted univers-
ity education after the War, he
is entitled, provided he enrolls
Within 15 months of discharge,
to receive the standard allow-
ance for a period equai to the
term of service. However, of the
aepartment of pensions and
health considers it in the public’s
benefit to do so, he may grant
the extension.

This applies equally to ex-
servicemen who wish to take re-
fresher courses and those who
want to start college after get-
ting their matriculation within
15 months of discharge. No al-
Jowanees will be paid for that

period for which a rehabilita-
tion grant is paid. -

There is much to be said in
favor of this plan, and every
Serviceman now on active’ sery-
ice who wishes to continue his
education after the war should
take full advantage of it.

The department may discon-
tinue the grant if the student
fails in more than two classes
or subjects in any academic
year. In ease of illness causing
an interruption of studies the
department has the authority to
continue the grant.

Unemployment Insurance: The
preamble te the order-in-council
declares that it is the aim of the
government to establish parity
between exseryicement and the
workers who served solely on
the production front during the
war. To achieve this aim, ail
exservicemen employed for a
total of 15 weeks in a insurable
industry during any 12 months
will automatically be  eredited
with having paid unemployment
insurance from July, 1941, when
the act came into effect, to the
date of discharge.

But here is the rub. Once he
has worked a total of 15 weeks
in a given 12 months the ex-
serviceman is immediately cred:
ited (or should we say debited
with having received unemploy-
ment benefits for a period equal
to that period for which he drew
the standard allowance, such
period not to exceed three-fifths
of the total time he served in
the forces. Thus, if he is let
eut after three months insurable
employment, through no fault of
his own, he has very little or
nothing to his credit upon which
to draw. = :

This is patently unfair to the
soldier, sailor or airman who has
lost his skill while serving His
country or has been unable _to
find steady employment on his
return. The only fair solution is

to write off what I have called
the “standard allowance” in this
article.

Canada cannot afford to be
parsimonious in dealing with her
exservicemen. They don’t expect
Utopia. They do expect to re-
turn to a country Which will
Suarantee them the democracy
and economic secruity for which
they are fighting. And they look
to the Canadian working people
at home to safeguard their inter-
ests. ; :

We Canadians overseas are
proud of the part we have play-
ed in the battle for freedom_—
in the air over Germany, in Bri-
tain during the blitz, at Dieppe,
in Sicily, at Ortona, Cassino and
a dozen more bloody battlefields
in Italy. Now we are ready to
invade the continent of Europe.
For some of us there will be
no future. But the majority of us
will be coming back and Canada
must not let us down.

Every thinking soldier over-
seas realizes that his future
depends upon Canada’s future,
that his fsecurity depends on
Canada’s security, that his wel.
fare depends on the welfare of
the nation. He knows no plan
for his reestablishment will suc-
ceed in the Jong run unless
Canada takes her place after the
War in the family of nations as
a firm advocate of the principles
of the Moscow and Teheran-
agreements.

A united and enlightened peo-
ple must insist on such measures
aS are necessary to utilize our
greatly expanded industrial pow-
er to the full, to provide work
and real wages for all, accord-
ing to their abilities. This is the
Canada we are fighting for. We
Want jobs, not relief projects;
good wages, not relief pittances:
social security, not personal in-
security. This is the antithesis of
the fascism we are now fighting
to destroy.