Growing frustration among veterans and widows casts shadow on Remembrance Day

OTTAWA - Disabled veterans and soldiers' widows have unleashed a broadside of frustration against the Harper government just before Remembrance Day, saying many of them have been abandoned and left to fend for themselves.

They have gathered on Parliament Hill to paint a stark picture of bureaucratic indifference and red tape that flies in the face of reassurances from the government, which says the care of military families is a top priority.

Retired master corporal Dave Desjardins, who is paralyzed from the waist down, says the government has touted programs meant to help combat veterans find civilian jobs, but few of them help the disabled.

Tracy Kerr, wife of triple amputee who fought in Afghanistan, says she and her family have struggled for years to get basic needs, such as a lift to get her husband in and out of the tub.

Jackie Girouard, whose husband was killed by roadside bomb in Kandahar in 2006, says the families of many soldiers are denied access to the veterans independence program, which helps with yardwork and light housekeeping.

Ex-soldiers say much of the dissatisfaction can traced back to the 2006 New Veterans Charter which is now the subject of a class-action lawsuit.