In the March/April issue we excerpted Part 1 of The Canadian Soldier’s Handbook of General Information. Issued in 1943, the little red book was the Defence Department’s authoritative manual on a soldier’s rights and responsibilities in World War II. Part 2 of the book, which we have excerpted below, describes what the government was prepared to do to help soldiers re-establish after the war. It’s important to note that the 80-page book was issued prior to the creation in 1944 of the departments of Veterans Affairs and National Health and Welfare. As with Part 1, we’ve hired an artist to use a little humour to illustrate the sections we’ve included.

Part 2: After The War

Return To Civil Life

When the war is over it is probable that you will leave the Army and return to civil life. While in the Army you have given your services to your country and will have helped to defeat the enemy, although soldiering may not be your career.

You are probably looking forward to the day when victory has been won and you can resume your former occupation. The following notes are designed to tell you what the Government is doing towards re-establishing you in the event of your discharge during this war and also after your discharge at the end of the war.

The rehabilitation of ex-members of the Army is the responsibility of the Department of Pensions and National Health and other civilian government agencies, but not of the Department of National Defence. The Army, however, will continue to be interested in the welfare of trained soldiers.

Medical Treatment After Discharge

If the medical board advise that you are in need of further medical treatment and are unfit for further military service, you will be transferred to a hospital, if necessary, and placed under the supervision of the Department of Pensions and National Health.

Dental Treatment After Discharge

At the dental examination before your discharge you will receive instructions to apply within 90 days to the Department of Pensions and National Health for comprehensive dental treatment at public expense. You will be given a form on which you will name the nearest civilian dentist you prefer to carry out your treatment. The Department of Pensions and National Health will then authorize the dentist named by you or an alternative dentist, where advisable, to proceed with your treatment.

The Department of Pensions and National Health will not be responsible for payment in cases where this authority is not secured in advance.

Clothing Allowance

When you leave the Army you will once more require civilian clothes. For various reasons you may be unable to wear those which you left at home. To assist you in this respect, the government will grant you an allowance towards the purchase of necessary clothing. You are allowed to purchase the clothing you require at any store you may choose. Your commanding officer, however, is responsible for making sure that you have sufficient suitable clothing on discharge.

Rehabilitation Grant

If you have completed 183 days continuous service (exclusive of time in detention, prison, in a state of desertion, absence without leave, postponement leave, or any leave without pay and allowance) you will be granted 30 days pay of your rank. In addition, if you have dependants receiving dependants’ allowances, such allowances will also be continued for the period of one month. The purpose of this grant is to tide you over until you are again working in your civilian occupation.

Discharge Certificate

When all medical proceedings and other documentation have been completed, you are entitled to receive a Discharge Certificate, on which is stated the reason for your discharge from the Army and the effective date of such discharge. Take good care of your discharge certificate, for, if you lose it, no duplicate can be obtained. In case of loss, however, a certificate of service may be secured by writing to the Officer i/c Records, NDHQ, Ottawa.

Transportation

Having received your Discharge Certificate, you are also entitled to receive free transportation from the place at which you were discharged to the place where you were residing immediately before your enlistment, as stated on your Attestation Form, or to any other point in Canada, if the cost does not exceed what it would have been to such former place of residence.

War Service Badge

To be eligible for this Badge a soldier must have engaged to serve in the Canadian Army during the present war for General Service, (i.e., without restriction to place of service), and have served in the Canadian Army in Canada or elsewhere, and have been honourably discharged from the Service.

National Registration

After you have been discharged from the Army you must report to a post office and register under the Dominion of Canada National Registration Regulations and receive your National Registration card. This is very important as you may be required to produce this card by civil or military authorities.

Employment Service

The Government has established an employment service with offices located in the larger centres from coast to coast. This service is to assist you to find suitable employment.

There is a trained staff at each employment office, and there is no charge for their services. They have much wider contacts with employers than any individual and are therefore able to find suitable employment, if it is available, in the shortest possible time. With first hand information about the available jobs, these offices do away with much of the guesswork and wasted time of job hunting.

Unemployment Insurance

Under the Unemployment Insurance Act of 1940, employees, employers and the government are required to contribute to the Unemployment Insurance Fund. If an employee has made contributions for at least 30 weeks and becomes unemployed he can apply to his nearest Unemployment Insurance office, for a subsistence allowance provided he is fit and capable of working but for whom no work is available.

For example, if you have contributed 36 cents per week for 30 weeks, for a total of $10.80, you can obtain as much as $86.40 in six weeks of insurance benefits. If you are steadily employed in insurable employment for five years, you would contribute $93.60 and would be entitled to draw benefit for as much as $748.80 or about $8 for every $1 you have contributed.

Special concessions for ex-members of the forces have been provided under the terms of the Post Discharge Re-establishment Order. If you have completed 15 weeks in insurable employment within any 12 months of the 18-month period following your discharge, the Department of Pensions and National Health will pay Unemployment Insurance contributions on your behalf from July 1, 1941, until the date of your discharge.

This arrangement is to compensate you for the fact that your enlistment did not permit you to make the contributions to Unemployment Insurance that you might have made had you been employed in insurable employment during your period of service.

If you are unemployed, are fit to work and have the necessary credits you can apply for subsistence allowances which range from $4.08 to $12.24 per week for a single man; and from $4.80 to $14.40 for a married man, depending on the rate of your contributions to the Insurance Fund. Contributions are based on the amount of your wages. Subsistence Allowance is paid, as a right to those who can qualify and is not a dole or a charitable gift.

The Veterans’ Welfare Division

The Department of Pensions and National Health has set up a Veterans’ Welfare Division with Veterans’ Welfare Officers stationed in the principal offices of the Unemployment Insurance Commission. These officers advise, counsel and offer guidance to veterans, co-operate with employment officials, and stimulate local interest
in the after-care and
re-establishment of ex-servicemen in civilian life.

On discharge you will be given a card or handbook describing government facilities available for your re-establishment. This gives the location of Veterans’ Welfare Offices. You should feel free to approach the Welfare Officer in your district with any problem relative to your return to civilian life. With his knowledge of
the laws enacted for your welfare he is in a position to
advise you.

Citizens’ Committees

Citizens’ Committees have already been established in many centres and others are in the process of formation. These committees, comprised of public-spirited citizens, are cooperating with the Department’s Welfare Officers in assisting discharged Members of the Forces with their re-establishment problems.

The Post-Discharge Re-establishment Order

The Post-Discharge Re-establishment Order (October 1, 1941) seeks to provide a measure of social security for ex-servicemen so that they may be returned to a status in civilian life comparable to that enjoyed prior to enlistment insofar as existing conditions will permit.

This Order provides for subsistence allowances while taking refresher courses, vocational training, university education, awaiting return from crops or private enterprise, temporarily incapacitated, or out-of-work, if fit and capable of working.

The basic rates are $10.20 per week for a single man, and $14.40 for a married man plus allowances for dependants on the same scale as are paid by the Dependants’ Allowance Board. Special bonuses are paid to pensioners taking vocational or university training.

The maximum period for which allowances are payable is 12 months, or your period of service, whichever is shortest. These allowances are not applicable after 18 months following your discharge, but it is hoped that you will be re-established in civilian life within that period.

University Courses

If you left a university course to enlist or possess the basic education to attain entry to a university, you may resume your studies and receive financial assistance towards your tuition, fees and maintenance, provided you can produce evidence that a Canadian university will enrol you in a course. Enrolment in a suitable university course must be effected within 15 months after your discharge. Such assistance is available for a period equal to the time you spent in the Forces, and, in special cases may continue until graduation.

Postgraduate Courses

If, at the time of your enlistment, you had already entered upon a post-graduate course or were about to do so, similar financial assistance is available if it is considered in the public interest for you to pursue postgraduate studies.

If you complete an undergraduate course after discharge you can take a postgraduate course, if it is in the public interest.

Vocational Training

If you desire to enter industrial, commercial or agricultural life and require training to qualify you for a suitable job or position, provision can be made for such training either in specially organized schools and classes or on the job. In discussing these courses with you, the local Welfare Officer of Department of Pensions and National Health will point out to you the relative advantages of this or that course, having in mind your previous experience and the demands by the labour market for particular jobs. While you are in training, the Government will make a weekly payment to permit you to pay for your room and board. Perhaps you have a skill or a trade which needs brushing up, in which case refresher courses may be provided so that you can get back into the “feel” of it, and maintenance benefits will be payable during the course on a married or a single scale. Such maintenance benefits or grants are payable for a maximum period of 12 months or for length of service if less than 12 months.

Temporarily Incapacitated

If you are prevented from obtaining work or taking vocational training because you suffer from some temporary disability, you can secure maintenance grants until you are fit and capable of accepting work or training for a period not exceeding your length of service with a maximum of 12 months.

Farmers And Others Awaiting Returns

You may obtain grants similar to out-of-work benefits, subject to similar time limitations, if you engage in farming, or some other business…on your own account, and are awaiting returns from your…enterprise. However, these grants are not obtainable if you are employed for wages as a hired man. You must be on your own farm or engaged in a business of your own.

Out Of Work Benefits

If upon your discharge you are fit and capable of work, but no work is available you may receive benefits for a period not exceeding 12 months or your length of service whichever is shortest. It is expected however, that employment will be secured for you long before the completion of such period.

In the case of ex-members of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, out-of-work benefits cannot exceed the rate of pay per week received from the Army at the time of discharge.

Preference In Employment

In addition to the advantages under the Post-Discharge Re-establishment Order, welfare measures have been provided. One of these provides that ex-servicemen are given the preference when labour is hired on projects under Government contract.

Civil Service

Another measure provides that the preference applying to ex-members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force of 1914-1918 in all appointments made by the Civil Service Commission is now extended to include ex-members of the Army who have served in any theatre of war.

Land Settlement

The Veterans’ Land Act, 1942, is a flexible measure. It provides wide scope for those of you who are interested in settling on the land. The advantages of this Land Act will be available according to your experience, general fitness and desire to settle on the land or obtain a home in a rural district. There is provision for three types of settlement: (a) full-time farming for men with practical experience in farm operation; (b) small holding settlement—which means a rural home and small acreage located close to employment opportunity, where the main source of revenue is from industrial or other employment; (c) small holding settlement coupled with commercial fishing for veterans experienced in the business of fishing in Canada’s coastal regions or inland districts where fishing is engaged in on a commercial basis.

The object of this Act is to enable you to acquire rural home ownership within your active working years and to maintain a reasonable standard of living for yourself and family. The State assistance therefore takes the form of a loan and conditional grant which are reflected in a contract between yourself and the Government whereby the Government absorbs at the outset a substantial part of the cost of the enterprise.

Settlement under this Act is a joint undertaking. The State bears a large proportion of the cost of a wide variety of settlement establishments and you are expected to assume certain responsibilities in the settlement agreement. In addition to the necessary qualifications to participate in settlement, is provision by you of a down payment of 10 per cent of the cost of the land and improvements. This down payment will vary from approximately $200 to $360 according to the type of individual settlement, and the annual payment will vary from approximately $90 to $145 over a 25-year period.

It is not intended that actual settlement operations in volume will take place at this period of the war. Canada knows that manpower and building materials are required in active waging of war, in addition to which is the important consideration that members of Canada’s Active Service Forces who are on duty for the duration overseas in various parts of the world should not be at a disadvantage in this settlement measure.

Medical Treatment

It is impossible in the scope of this handbook to give the complete details of the provision made by the Federal Government for the treatment of soldiers after they have been discharged from the Army. Speaking in general, the treatment is of a very generous and far-reaching nature, and one of the main points for the ex-soldier to remember is that he should not incur any private expenditure or make any arrangements himself for private medical or surgical treatment, without first getting in touch with the District Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Pensions either directly or, if necessary, through the nearest Departmental Medical Representative. There are hundreds of these Departmental Medical Representatives throughout the country, and the name of the nearest one could probably be best obtained from the secretary of the local Canadian Legion, or the local postmaster. The District Chief Medical Officer will be able to tell the ex-soldier whether or not his particular case is covered by federal legislation.

Pensions

Pensions may be paid for disability or death resulting from injury or disease or the aggravation thereof which is attributable to or was incurred during military service; except that, when such service has been wholly rendered in Canada, pension may be awarded only if the injury or disease or aggravation thereof resulting in disability or death arose out of, or was directly connected with military service, that is, the direct result of the performance of military duties.

When service has been in Canada only, the Canadian Pension Commission has power to grant an award, provided the injury or disease or the aggravation thereof resulting in serious disability or death, was incurred during service, and the applicant is in necessitous circumstances.

When the commission finds that you are not entitled to a pension, you may make an appeal and the assistance and advice of a Pensions Advocate of the Veterans’ Bureau are available to you without charge.

Awards are payable in accordance with the assessable degree of disability, there being 20 classes ranging from 100 to five per cent. The (yearly maximum) rates for 100 per cent disability for all ranks below captain are:

The rates of pension for a widow and children, for all ranks below that of captain are:

Orphan children receive double the ordinary rates for children. The widow of a pensioner who, at the time of his death, was in receipt of pension at the rate of 50 per cent or more is automatically entitled to pension, if otherwise eligible.

Dependent parents may be pensioned at the rate for a widow or such lesser rates as may be deemed necessary by the commission to provide maintenance.