Veterans Review and Appeal Board Act

Marginal note:Application for compassionate award

• 34 (1) A person who has been refused an award under the Pension Act, or a disability award, a death benefit, a clothing allowance or a detention benefit under Part 3 of the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act, and who has exhausted all procedures for review and appeal under this Act may apply to the Board for a compassionate award.

• Marginal note:Panel

  (2) An application for a compassionate award shall be heard, determined and dealt with by a panel consisting of not fewer than three members designated by the Chairperson.

• Marginal note:Granting of compassionate award

  (3) A panel may grant a compassionate award if it considers the case to be specially meritorious and the applicant is unqualified to receive an award under the Pension Act, or a disability award, a death benefit, a clothing allowance or a detention benefit under Part 3 of the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act.

• Marginal note:Amount

  (4) The amount of a compassionate award shall be any sum that the panel may fix, but may not exceed the amount to which the applicant would have been entitled if the applicant’s claim under the Pension Act or the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act had been upheld.

• Marginal note:Review by Minister

  (5) The Minister may from time to time vary the amount of a compassionate award that is subject to being varied in accordance with the applicant’s dependent condition.

• Marginal note:Adjustment

  (6) The amount of a compassionate award shall be adjusted at the same times and by the same percentage as the basic pension is adjusted under subsection 75(1) of the Pension Act.

• Marginal note:Death of recipient

  (6.1) On the death of a person to whom a compassionate award has been granted, the Pension Act applies in respect of a survivor or surviving child of that person in the same manner as it would apply if the compassionate award had been an award within the meaning of that Act.

• Marginal note:Meaning of survivor and child

  (6.2) In subsection (6.1), survivor and child have the same meaning as in the Pension Act.

• Marginal note:Reconsideration of decisions

  (7) The Board may, on its own motion, reconsider a decision made by it under this section and may either confirm the decision or amend or rescind the decision if it determines that an error was made with respect to any finding of fact or the interpretation of any law, or may do so on application if new evidence is presented to the Board.

• Marginal note:Definition of compassionate award

  (8) In this section, compassionate award means a compassionate pension, allowance or supplementary award.