Public Trustee vs Vet

Hi People,

This story has come up in the Winnipeg Sun online a couple or so times recently ... is anyone else familiar with this story?

Its sounds absolutely outrageous (but I don't know all the details obviously ... but still dammit ...) :

Karmen

Sat, August 20, 2005
Injustice continues
Public Trustee keeps grip on veteran's private affairs

By TOM BRODBECK

It's been almost three months since the government took over the life of Thomas Hanaway, 80, and there's still no sign it's prepared to give the Second World War veteran his freedom back.

Manitoba's Public Trustee, who took over Hanaway's life on June 6, continues to confiscate Hanaway's pension cheques, open his mail and pay his bills.

Hanaway, who lives with his wife and son in the North End home where he was born, is not allowed out of the city without permission from the Public Trustee.

And if he requires any medical attention, it must be approved by the Public Trustee.

"This is bullshit," said a frustrated Thomas Hanaway, whom I visited yesterday. "This is causing a lot of hardship around here."

No doubt. How would you like to have your life taken over by the government and told whether you can leave town?

How would you like the government to confiscate your mail and open it?

SEIZING AND OPENING MAIL

It even seizes copies of Hanaway's Legion magazine, which he gets in the mail.

His son, Tom Hanaway Jr., has to drive to the Public Trustee office downtown to pick up the mail when they call.

And because he has the same name as his father, it's been seizing and opening his mail, too.

"What they can do is just unreal," said Grace Hanaway. "I don't know where all this is going to end up."

Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh said on June 30 that the Hanaway case would be reviewed and completed within a month.

Nearly two months later, nothing has happened.

A letter sent to Grace Hanaway this week from deputy justice minister Bruce MacFarlane said the investigation of their case is still ongoing.

The government is alleging Hanaway's money is not being handled properly.

It's accusing the family of mismanaging his affairs, although its correspondence doesn't specifically state how.

"There is concern, as you have been told, that significant sums of money have been expended without authorization from your husband's estate," wrote MacFarlane.

What estate? Hanaway's not dead. And he shares his assets, like most married couples, with his wife.

Her money is his money, and his money is hers. They raised a family together, ran a business together and own a home together.

If the government has some allegations against the Hanaways it feels gives them the right to revoke Grace Hanaway's power of attorney, it should have to prove that in a court of law first.

You can't just arbitrarily suspend someone's civil liberties on allegations of financial mismanagement.

The Hanaways acknowledge they've blown all their money over the years and that their son, who's unemployed, has spent some money, too.

But it's their money and their decision. I don't see how that's any of the government's business -- a government that, by the way, urges people to go to casinos and gamble their money away.

MacFarlane says in his letter that the Public Trustee may take the Hanaway case to court and let a judge decide if Grace should have her power of attorney re-instated, which was suspended by government.

He says if that happens, she can hire a lawyer to represent her, which costs at least $3,000 to $4,000 -- money she doesn't have.

So much for due process.

So much for freedom.