Nov 11, 2026
Hakan Haytaoglu spent 35 years flying for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), including on secret missions. At 55, just months shy of retirement, he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine carcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. His medical claim to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), the federal department responsible for benefits for former service members, was denied.
As a result his wife, Maura-Jo, started digging. For months, while caring for him, she hunted for evidence linking his illness to his job. Hakan died in July 2025, weeks before his case was to be heard by the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB), the arm’s-length tribunal that hears appeals of VAC disability decisions. Maura-Jo took the case forward for him — and won.
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“It shouldn’t be this hard for those who served their country,” she told CBC News.
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For veterans with an exposure-related illness, a claim usually hinges on proving the illness is connected to their service. That proof can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to a family.
Why is it so hard to prove an illness came from service?
A House of Commons committee report tabled Oct. 28 shows the scale of the problem. As of June 2026, there were 2,750 contaminated sites linked to the Department of National Defence (DND) and the CAF across Canada. Among its 11 recommendations, the Standing Committee on National Defence calls for the federal government to make it easier for service members to find the information they need when making medical claims.
Right now, that information is hard to retrieve. Jim Hutton, a co-founder of Veterans with Cancer Inc., a non-profit that helps veterans connect their illness to their service, says historical exposure data is often missing from military service records. As a result, veterans end up filing access-to-information requests and having to search multiple databases of old government records.
“Veterans should not have to become investigators,” Hutton told CBC News. “That is an unreasonable burden.”
Once evidence is found, it can help others. Maura-Jo told CBC News the information used in her husband’s appeal is now helping service members who worked with him on a secret mission some 30 years ago, three of whom have also died of cancer. Those survivors have used the precedent in their own claims.
Erin Zimmerman, 48, a veteran who testified before the committee, now helps more than two dozen veterans and their families track down evidence for their claims. She has been diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Parkinson’s disease. Zimmerman worked at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan, in sections that are now an active contamination site, and said she had never been informed of the risks. She also helped Maura-Jo locate evidence for Hakan’s appeal.
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What is an approved claim actually worth?
For Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans, approved claims are paid as Pain and Suffering Compensation (PSC), and recipients can choose a lifetime monthly benefit or a lump sum. The older Disability Pension, a lifetime monthly benefit under the Pension Act, now applies mainly to RCMP members and to those already receiving it.
Under VAC rates effective Jan. 1, 2026, a 20% extent of disability pays $283.96 per month or $92,391.34 as a lump sum, while 100% pays $1,419.82 per month or lump sum of $461,956.71.
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An approved claim also affects care. Once a condition is accepted as service-related, VAC provides health coverage for that condition through its Treatment Benefits program. Without approval, that coverage isn’t available, and many veterans need ongoing care. In the 2022 Canadian Veteran Health Survey, conducted by Statistics Canada for VAC, 44.2% of veterans reported living with pain, and 10.9% said pain limits most of their activities.
Can a family keep fighting if a veteran dies mid-claim?
A claim doesn’t necessarily end when the veteran dies. If there is a survivor or dependent child, VAC continues adjudicating the original application, and no new application is needed.
Survivors can also file for a condition the veteran never claimed before death. Estates, however, are not eligible, so a veteran with no spouse, common-law partner or dependent child should file early.
What to do now
- Request your service and medical records early
- Write down every base, building, mission and substance you remember working around
- Ask former colleagues whether they’ve filed similar claims
- Call the Bureau of Pensions Advocates if you’re denied or approved for less than you expected
- Ask about a departmental review if you find new evidence
- Survivors should confirm with VAC that a pending claim is still being processed
Depending on when you served, your records are held by DND or Library and Archives Canada (LAC), the federal agency that preserves government records. Medical and dental records move to LAC five years after release. The Bureau of Pensions Advocates (BPA), a nationwide team of lawyers within VAC, offers free advice and representation at 1-877-228-2250. A departmental review lets a VAC adjudicator consider new evidence. If that doesn’t resolve the claim, it can go to VRAB.
The recommendations from the Standing Committee on National Defence include a call to proactively tell current and former personnel and their families about environmental risks on bases and the results of site assessments. If adopted, they could shift some of this burden back to Ottawa, but it’s not yet clear whether the government will act on them.
“My husband’s legacy lives on,” Maura-Jo said, “because we had the courage to say no, we’re not going to accept this.”
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Writer and editor based in Toronto with experience in personal finance, insurance, arts and culture and branded content.
