As athletes from 25 countries gather in B.C. this week to compete in the seventh Invictus Games, a Canadian veteran who suffered life-changing injuries in the previous games is suing the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for $2.4 million.
Scott Snow, a poster boy for Team Canada in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2023, was injured during his first wheelchair rugby match when the chair he was using toppled backwards, slamming him onto the court floor and injuring his head, neck and spine.
CBC News previously reported that only after being injured did Snow learn that while serving CAF members are fully insured against injuries sustained during the games, veterans on the team were not. Snow is demanding that the government compensate him for treatment, pain and suffering and loss of income.
“The first time they left me behind,” Snow told CBC News this week, “I thought when the story came out, for sure somebody would come help and still no one’s yet to help. I feel like I have been left behind twice.”
The suit is being filed in Federal Court on Tuesday, days after Katy Perry, Nelly Furtado and Chris Martin performed at the opening ceremonies at Vancouver’s BC Place. Jelly Roll and the Barenaked Ladies are scheduled to perform at the closing ceremonies.
Snow’s claim has not yet been tested in court. CBC News has contacted the Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada but has yet to receive a response.
Snow was a high-profile Invictus team member whose journey to the games in Dusseldorf was the subject of a video produced to promote the games.
In his wheelchair rugby match against the United States on Sept. 10, 2023, Snow was in a chair that did not have a restraint strap.
He told CBC News that as he reached up to catch a ball, he fell backwards. Video of the incident shows his head and back slamming into the court surface under the weight of his 250-pound frame.
Snow finished the game unaware of the damage the fall had caused. He said he saw the team doctor and German medical professionals on site after the game. He said they told him he didn’t need an X-ray.
While reaching up to intercept a pass during Team Canada’s wheelchair rugby match against Team U.S.A. at the 2023 Invictus Games, Snow falls back and hits his head on the court surface.
Upon returning to Canada and resuming physiotherapy for his service-related injuries, X-rays revealed a new cervical spine injury — forcing him to undergo an operation to fuse his upper vertebrae together.
While Snow’s arms improved, the tingling in his legs didn’t stop and he later learned that he had cracked vertebrae in his lower spine as well, requiring another operation.
Unable to afford the modifications required to refit his house so it was accessible, Snow had to move into a retirement home for a period while he underwent physical therapy.
When CBC News reported on his case, detailing how he was paying out of pocket for spinal and eye therapy, as well as for assisted living, the federal government announced that going forward it would insure veterans participating in the Invictus Games.
“We will continue to work with the Canadian Armed Forces, Soldier On, Invictus Games and other stakeholders to ensure … this situation will be rectified before Invictus Games 2025,” then veterans’ affairs minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor told the House of Commons in September.
During question period Thursday, NDP MP Rachel Blaney addressed about veterans competing in Invictus Games on the hook for their medical insurance. Veterans Affairs Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said the situation will be rectified in time for Invictus Games 2025.
Soldier On, a semi-autonomous CAF program that helps ill and injured CAF members and veterans recover through sports and recreational and creative activities, manages Canada’s Invictus team.
Snow said that since being injured, Soldier On, the CAF and Veterans Affairs Canada have not responded to multiple requests to provide him with financial and medical assistance.
Snow said that he does not blame the Invictus Games and fully supports its mission to help give injured soldiers and veterans an opportunity to represent their country. He says Soldier On, the CAF and National Defence are to blame for his situation.
“They’ve admitted that they were wrong. The minister admitted that in the House. They changed their policy, so why won’t they now help me?” Snow said.
Canadian military veteran Scott Snow says he paid thousands in surgery bills after an injury sustained while competing at the Invictus Games last year. Under current rules, only serving members have medical coverage.
Philip Millar, the lawyer representing Snow, told CBC News that he sent a statement of claim to National Defence and the CAF more than three weeks ago looking to reach a settlement out of court.
“I asked them before this if they would just agree to cover some of his rehab and asked the military to get back to me and they just said no, which is brutal,” Millar said.
“We tried and they seemed non-responsive … they just said they were busy with the Invictus Games.”
‘This could be an easy fix,’ says advocate
Medically retired captain Sean Bruyea, a former air force intelligence officer, is a leading advocate for the rights of injured veterans.
He says it’s ridiculous that Snow has to take the government to court to get compensation that veterans participating in the 2025 and future games now qualify for.
“You can’t keep using these games to romanticize injury and play the hero card and avoid dealing with real-life veterans in caring for them,” he said.
“What a stark and disturbing irony that this is an event, the Invictus Games, that’s meant to somewhat romanticize and place heroic labels on veterans who are able to participate.”
Bruyea says that the CAF and Veterans Affairs Canada have programs to help veterans with treatment and assisted-living arrangements and they should be extended to help Snow.
“This could be an easy fix,” he said.
Unable to afford treatment
According to the suit being filed in Federal Court, Snow is seeking $1 million in damages for pain, suffering and the loss of enjoyment of life.
Snow is also asking for an additional $1 million for medical, hospital and other rehabilitation treatment.
The suit says that while Snow is receiving disability benefits after being medically retired from the forces, he is allowed to earn up to $20,000 a year to top up his benefits without penalty.
The suit says that because his earning capacity has been “severely restricted,” Snow wants National Defence and the CAF to pay him $440,000 to cover his loss of income, an amount equivalent to 22 years earning the maximum top-up.
The statement of claim says that Snow has two herniated disks and two fractures in his lumbar spine. It also says that in the fall he suffered “severe head trauma causing a tear in the optical muscles.”
Snow was paying out of pocket for both eye therapy and back therapy but says he had to discontinue treatment because he can no longer afford it.
