Meet the Injured Canadian Veteran Who Claims His Home Was Ruined Thanks to a Government Contract

This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.

Sergeant Kevin Nanson's home is a disaster. The siding has been removed, so the place is just covered in plastic. Inside, tools and boxes are strewn across unfinished floors. Out back, his lawn is mostly dirt.

This was supposed to be his dream home for his family, his wife, Kim, and their two young children. He was supposed to have an elevator to bring him to the second floor. He was supposed to have ramps to get him around the house. He was supposed to have an accessible bathroom and bedroom.

Instead, he alleges he got stuck with a contractor who took the money and left him with a ruined house.

Now, Nanson is in limbo. For the moment, he's still living on-base in Edmonton, waiting for the government to recognize the mistake and contribute the money to fix his home.

Nanson says an inspector has told him that hundreds of thousands of dollars of work remains—both in doing the actual upgrades and in repairing the previous contractor's work—but the money isn't there.

Daily VICE spoke to Nanson, and toured his unfinished home, earlier in June.

Nanson is profoundly frustrated by the country that he served. He was even wounded during his service when an IED hit his convoy in Kandahar in 2008.

"When the bomb went off I lost feeling in my hands, I have a traumatic brain injury, incomplete spinal separation, my back was broken in three spots, and my skull and my face was broken in nine spots," Nanson told VICE.

He returned to Canada after that, and went back to living at his temporary home in CFB Edmonton.

The Canadian Forces assessed his injury. Under the New Veteran's Charter—a controversial reform of the benefit system for veterans that pays out one lump sum based on a soldier's injuries—Nanson received one wad of cash. He received a dollar figure for the damage to his spine. Another figure for his brain injury. Another dollar figure for any other injuries sustained.

Nanson took that money and invested in a home for his wife and kids. They found one in Gibbons, Alberta, and put the money down. Then they applied for funding from the Canadian Forces to cover the expenses. He found one contractor to do the work.

However, because military procurement rules require multiple bids for all work worth over $5,000, they had to find more options. Another contractor, Northport Accessibility Construction, came forward with a significantly lower bid. Nanson says the Forces rules required him to accept the lower bid, or else take the pricier option but pay the difference.

So the Forces greenlit Northport. Nanson said he had bad feelings from the get-go.

Throughout the winter, while driving his kids to school, he would drive past his would-be dream house.

"The things they were saying they were doing, they weren't. The supplies they said they had ordered and weren't delivered, they didn't," Nanson alleges.

He said throughout February that the siding on the home that was supposed to be there wasn't there. The garage door the company said they installed wasn't installed.

After much back and forth, and complaining to his chain of command, Nanson eventually fired the firm in May.

Now, looking back, he's seeing the red flags. For one, the company didn't exist until after they submitted a bid to renovate his home.

The company was incorporated on January 9, 2015, and has no other trace online. VICE called both numbers listed on their sign—one was disconnected and the other, was for a cellphone for Allan Boyce.

VICE reached Boyce this week to ask about the problems with the job.

"There was nothing wrong with the work that was done," he said.

Boyce explained that his contract was originally for $220,000 and he received $150,000 of it before the contract ended.

He said the $150,000 paid was for the garage, which wasn't finished, and the cabinet work. He admits that the house still needs flooring, paint, trim, siding, and the garage door, amongst other work. It's unlikely that it could have been finished with the remaining $70,000 left on the contract, although Boyce claims he could have done it.

VICE tried to get Boyce's past work experience, but he refused to provide it.

When Nanson's home was inspected, he was told that things were far from resolved.

Faced with Nanson's horror story, the Canadian Government struck an apologetic tone.

"Sergeant Nanson served Canada with distinction, and Canada will be there for Sergeant Nanson and his family," Veteran's Affairs Minister Erin O'Toole told the House of Commons when asked by the opposition on June 9. "The renovations to the home have been approved. While the problems with the contractor are being resolved, we have directed that Sergeant Nanson and his family can remain in military housing at no cost after his release until the contracting is complete."

While the minister was promised that, however, the 18-year veteran of the Canadian Forces wasn't informed of this news. In fact, he says, a young officer knocked on his door last week, asking to view his temporary house on the Edmonton military base. He's still slated to move out on June 30.

"He got a fax and an email from housing here, saying the house would be vacant in the coming weeks," Nanson said of the young officer.

"Clearly there's massive gaps in communication somewhere."

Nanson said he finally got news this week that he would allowed to stay in his on-base temporary home in CFB Edmonton.

The Canadian Forces have told VICE that they're planning to re-assess the home, and fix the damage. However, they still haven't told Nanson whether he'll get more money to do so. Right now, he's only got $60,000 left in his benefit.

"Now, because nobody there wants to admit fault, they essentially say 'now, you have to make a new plan, but your new plan has to be $60,000,'" he said, adding that the paltry sum won't even be enough to cover supplies.

One well-respected contractor came forward, offered to do the project on the cheap—at about $300,000—and he was turned away by the military.

If Nanson wants to fix his house, he'll have to pay the difference, unless something changes.

"And I think it's unfair, it's beyond unfair that someone else mishandled my benefit and now they want me to pay the difference and it's gross negligence at its best," Nanson said.

Nanson said he's had enough.

"I spent 20 years in two separate countries, fighting for the Queen," said Nanson. "I'm done. I'm really, really done."

He's not the only one. A long line of veterans have taken aim at the Harper government, saying its cost-cutting have wreaked havoc on Canada's veterans. A coalition of veterans have a long-running protest to push the Harper government to stop the clawbacks of their benefits.

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