Hello my fellow military veterans and fellow Canadians.

My name is Phillip Reesor. I am a Canadian Armed Forces veteran living in Stittsville, Ontario. I served my country proudly, and I now live every day with the permanent and severe physical and mental health disabilities that service left behind. I am assessed at APSC Grade 2 and am actively pursuing a Grade 1 designation that better reflects the true impact of my conditions on my daily life.

I am one of thousands of Canadian veterans receiving the Additional Pain and Suffering Compensation — a benefit specifically designed for those of us with the most serious service-related injuries. Yet despite being among the most severely injured veterans in this country, I am denied a basic financial right that less injured veterans take for granted.

Under the Veterans Well-being Act, veterans receiving Pain and Suffering Compensation can elect to receive a lump sum payment at any time. But veterans like me — on APSC — cannot. We are locked into monthly payments only. No lump sum option. No estate value when we die. Nothing passes to our families. The more severely you were injured serving Canada, the less financial freedom you are given. There is no policy justification for this. None.

I have filed a formal Charter challenge against the Government of Canada. I have filed complaints with the Minister of Veterans Affairs and the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman. I have applied to the Court Challenges Program for funding. I am fighting this with everything I have — because this is not just about me. This is about every APSC veteran in Canada who has been quietly denied equal treatment under the law that was supposed to protect them.

I am asking you — fellow veterans, families of veterans, and every Canadian who believes that those who serve deserve to be treated with dignity and equality — to sign this petition and demand that Parliament amend the Veterans Well-being Act to include a lump sum election option for all APSC recipients, equal to what is already provided to PSC recipients under s. 53 of the Act.

We served without question. Now we are asking one question in return: why are your most severely injured veterans worth less?

Please sign. Please share. Help me make this right — not just for me, but for every veteran who has given everything and deserves better than this.