One day in January, a Canadian military veteran of over 25 years found a letter in his mail demanding he repay the feds after they had overpaid him on a military benefit for seven years — without giving him any reason why the error occurred. Matthew Wright, a 65-year-old veteran, and his wife, Karissa Wright, 55, received a letter claiming that — unbeknownst to them — they were indebted to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) to the tune of $24,000, and they had just over three years to pay it back.The VAC had overpaid the Wrights their Income Replacement Benefit (IRB), a payment given to Canadian Armed Forces veterans who either cannot work while they receive rehabilitation or are deemed unfit to work due to a physical or mental injury.The Wrights had received the benefit back in 2018, but were later told they had been overpaid beginning in April 2019..Under the benefit, veterans are entitled to 90% of their salary if they are under 65 — and once they are over 65, they can receive up to 63% of their previous salary.Moreover, to receive the benefit, veterans are required to indicate all other sources of income to VAC.According to Karissa, she was baffled not just by the repayment amount — but also by the fact that the feds could not indicate what caused the error. She recalls asking the VAC three times over when they first received the payment: "'Are you sure that [Matthew] is entitled to this?'".In response, Karissa says the feds told her Matthew was entitled to the amount promised since "he can't physically work.""He's broken from serving our country, and so we took that money in good faith," said Karissa.They are now faced with a repayment period of just over three years, which means monthly payments of $600, due to an error that VAC did not identify and continued to make for seven years.What's even more astonishing is that they are not the only ones this has happened to..According to a CBC report, VAC sent 965 repayment notices to veterans between late October 2025 and March 2026, due to overpayments of the IRB totalling over $5,000.And that's not all — within the same timespan — VAC issued over 1,000 repayment requests to veterans for amounts below $5,000.But these repayments aren't just numbers listed on a letter or email — these payment errors are costly and impact the lives of those forced to pay."A lot of veterans that are in this position have already calculated their monthly budgets, and they have commitments and payments that they need to make," stated Matthew.."Whether it's a car payment, a house payment, or even their normal budgets for, either house repairs or new tires for a vehicle, etc."Matthew adds they both have been feeling the pressure due to the loss of income, saying, "it puts a lot of stress on us because we can't afford the things that we have committed to."What amplifies this difficulty is that they can't seem to get a hold of anyone from the VAC who could discuss their repayment options."We have repeatedly been calling [VAC] almost every week or two for the past couple of months, trying to get somebody to call us back, or at the very least arrange a lower payment," explained Karissa..The harsh reality of the repayments has made their extracurricular spending extremely restricted."You're doing everything you can to keep yourself out of debt, and by taking that extra $600 a month away, you're looking forward and saying: 'There's not going to be a Christmas.'""You can't go camping. You can't enjoy life really at all." VAC has yet to answer any of the Wrights' inquiries as to any part they may have played in the overpayment, "I've asked several times. I've sent messages through VAC messaging, and I've asked, 'what was the fault?'".Karissa says they always tell her the same thing — "It's like a 1-800 number.""There's no direct line to anybody, so you get basically what is a receptionist.""They are very courteous. They are very sympathetic, but they have nothing. They can do nothing more than pass on the message."As for VAC forgiving the Wrights' IRB repayments due to the repayments' financial strain on their income — unfortunately they missed the deadline to request repayment forgiveness, and ever since, they have been unable to contact anyone at VAC that could help them with this. .Reported by CBC, Stuart Micklethwaite experienced a similar notice courtesy of VAC informing him he owed $69,000 due to an overpayment of his IRB.Micklethwaite had spent 23 years in the air force and did military contract work for IMP Aerospace, receiving a Canadian Pension Plan payments and a superannuation for the Canadian Armed Forces.All of this additional income Micklethwaite had disclosed to VAC, but they had never processed it.However, in VAC's the letter, they claimed the financial responsibility fell to him..“I had to discuss with my wife that we may be losing our house because of a mistake that Veterans Affairs made,” Micklethwaite stated.Between October 1 2025 and February 28 2026 VAC forgave 45 veterans' overpayments out of more than 1,000 overpayment cases. Micklethwaite had his forgiven — immediately appealing the overpayment, though he worries for veterans who are unable to fight for their case.“I'm one of the ones that fought this tooth and nail because I had the information, I knew what I did," he stated.."I did everything they asked for and I proved to them that I did. Not all veterans can do that.” It took him 12 weeks to hear back from VAC, in which time his anxiety increased, followed by a worsening of his PTSD and chronic pain.Once frustration set in, Micklethwaite reflects, "It's going to take a lot for VAC to get that trust back.""For me, I don't think it'll ever happen because I had to fight this myself.”.This mirrors similar sentiments felt by the Wrights, with their case still unresolved.As Karissa puts it, a sense of disillusionment has come over the two regarding what the armed forces promised Matthew the day he joined."I thought I was fighting for Canada, but I'm not," stated Matthew."I'm actually fighting to survive myself.".The Wrights hope by bringing their story to light, politicians might take notice and do something about it. "When you look at close to 1,000 people that have been affected, it's not the people — it's the organization." pointed out Matthew. "You would think that they would own up to their mistake and tell all those veterans that: 'yes, we're going to be lowering your amount, but we're not going to ask for a repayment.'""When they can send money all around the world — millions and billions of dollars to other countries — yet, they can't give their own veterans a break.".After reaching out to VAC for comment, they told the Western Standard in a written statement they could not comment on any specific cases due to privacy."Veterans are required to notify the Department of any changes to their income on a monthly basis, rather than on an annual basis, to attempt to limit situations of overpayment or underpayment," VAC stated.They also added that VAC provides veterans experiencing financial distress "the option to review their financial situation to determine an appropriate resolution."They also added that in cases where overpayment occurred, "VAC must notify the Veteran of the reason for the overpayment, the amount owing, and the options available for repayment."
