The Toronto Star, February 2, 1919.
HERE’S PENSION SCALE SUGGESTED BY G.W.V.A
Comparison of the Present and the Proposed Rates—Deputation Goes to Ottawa.
A GWVA deputation will invade Ottawa this week, asking the Dominion Government that pensions be increased all along the line. The veterans’ request will include pensions payable to disabled soldiers, no matter which of the twenty different
classes of disablement they have been classified into by the Pensions Board, as well as those due to the dependents of men who have given up their lives in the service.
“We feel that the present scale is based on the calculations involved at arriving at figures you will not find in the Workmen’s Compensation Act.” Said one GWVA official who will be a member of the deputation. “These were amounts that would be naturally accepted with reluctance by the manufacturers. We think that a different spirit should animate the fixing of the scale of pensions who have risked or given their lives overseas.”
Other officials think that the payment of fairer pensions would go a long way towards allaying any dissatisfaction among returned men.
The maximum pension now for total disability of a single man is $600. The deputation will ask that this be raised to $1,000. The maximum pension to a widow without children is now $480. The following tables illustrate the pensions as they are and as they will be if the GWVA request is granted.
[Category] – Present rate / Proposed rate
Total Disability:
Single man -- $600 / $1000
Married man -- $696 / $1160
With one child -- $840 / $1400
With two children -- $960 / $1600
With three children -- $1068 / $1760
[scale continues for 90%, 80%, 50%, 25% disability]
Widows’ Pension:
Without children -- $480 / $800
With one child -- $624 / $1040
With two children -- $744 / $1240
With three children -- $840 / $1300
