Evidence of meeting #37 for Veterans Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was report.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
Betty Hinton Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
Wonderful, okay.
Because we are going to come to an end fairly soon, is there anything you'd like to leave with us? Is there something you may not have had an opportunity to say during the session today?
10:40 a.m.
Chair, Gerontological Advisory Council
No, but I do want to express my appreciation to all of you. I was also able to appear in person before a Senate committee in the summer, and had the same reaction there, as all of you really dug into this report. I appreciate the kinds of questions you were asking and your commitment to this.
We really want to see something happen, “we” being all of us, not just the veterans groups on our council, but also the service providers and the academics. We are just so aware that time is running out.
One thing I would just illustrate is that the academics had to learn. Of course, at the beginning, when the council started ten years ago, we wanted to do another study. Right? The veterans groups basically said to us, we're dying. So we've relied on knowledge that's already there rather than conducting new research.
So it's time for action now. That's my last message, I think.
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
Betty Hinton Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
You have my assurance, Dr. Marshall, that I will do my very best to deliver that message to all members of this committee, that we need to move forward quickly with this health care review. We have veterans who are waiting for us, and there can be no higher priority.
So thank you very much for your time, your effort, and all your hard work.
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
We are having something distributed shortly, but I'd like to use the chair's prerogative to get in a couple of questions.
You mentioned—and I was intrigued by this—that there is a higher incidence of musculoskeletal diseases among veterans. There is a greater prevalence among war service veterans than the general population, I think is the way you stated it. I am intrigued. Do you have any theories on that?
10:45 a.m.
Chair, Gerontological Advisory Council
Well, it may be related to things like.... Again, I'm not a medical doctor, but we do have Dr. Robin Poole, who is an expert on these things, on our council, and he probably would have better theories than me.
I imagine that if you're trudging through Normandy, or maybe worse, trudging through the mountains of Sicily and Italy, as the Canadian army did, that could be a pretty rough life. I could see that resulting in minor stress fractures, and so forth, that you would live with for a while and that you may not even notice until later in life. I think that could be a big cause of it.
Again, you couldn't track that back; it really hits the crisis point when someone is say 83 years old. I think it would be ridiculous to try to track that back and say, “Well, I was riding in this tank in Italy and it was a bumpy road”. I don't think you can track it back; but that's my guess about the kinds of connections that would account for that.
That's in the chart on page 13, by the way—figure 5 on page 13.
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Okay.
I'm also wondering what types of diseases those are. You generally call them musculoskeletal diseases, but what are those?
10:45 a.m.
Chair, Gerontological Advisory Council
In the chart it refers to diagnoses of arthritis and rheumatism. But as the report says, “Arthritis may be more common in older veterans than in the population at large because injuries to joints, particularly the knees, ankles, hips, shoulders, hands, spines and feet, usually cause the onset of osteoarthritis in later life”. It also points out that “These types of injuries are common in military training and on the battlefield, but their consequences (i.e., osteoarthritis) may not occur until decades after the injury....”
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
I know I am belabouring the point here, but minor stress fractures.... My understanding is that when a bone heals, it actually calcifies more intensely along the line of a fracture than it does in the rest of the bone. But these things, even though they may be calcified, lead to arthritis and rheumatism, as you say, and all these other issues.
10:45 a.m.
Chair, Gerontological Advisory Council
Again, I'm handicapped as a sociologist here; you're beyond my expertise. But as I said, we do have Dr. Poole. There are other physicians as well, but Dr. Poole is on the council, and he's really one of Canada's leading experts in arthritis, in fact. He's part of the Canadian Arthritis Network of the Canadian institutes for aging and health.
10:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Okay.
Well, it seems that we're going to have to make our goodbyes. We've had a wonderful opportunity to question you.
Thank you very much for your participation. I want to echo yet again--and I know many committee members share this--that we deeply appreciate the fact that you're doing this in a voluntary capacity and the work that has gone into your study. It will factor, I'm sure, quite well into the study we're undertaking on health care review.
We're going to revert over to doing some setting of the agenda and various business things for the last few minutes of the meeting, but thank you very much for your participation.
10:50 a.m.
Chair, Gerontological Advisory Council
Thank you very much. I've really appreciated the chance to talk with you.
Goodbye.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
All the best.
Okay. Now, I think we dealt with some of the issues with regard to how we're going to proceed on Tuesday.
Monsieur Perron, you have a letter here. This is the first time I've seen this, by the way. Do you want me to read this, or do you want to read it?
10:50 a.m.
Bloc
Gilles-A. Perron Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
No. It's a letter that we received from our clerk, by e-mail, and that appears to contain a type of accusation against yourself, Mr. Chairman. I would like to know what's happening. It says that the Hon. Chairman stated that the SISIP, the Service Income Security Insurance Plan, does not fall under the veterans committee's responsibility. My question is whether or not that is true? Second, what should we do with the letter that we have all received?
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Okay. I'm going to continue with reading the letter, because, honestly, it's the first time I've seen it. Okay—
—I beg to differ, it is the clients of Veterans Affairs that are affected by this, it is the Veterans Affairs monthly benefit that is wrongfully deducted.
I think we've dealt with this before.
If these points do not make it this committee's responsibility, then we, the disabled veterans, will be the ones that will have our argument fall on “deaf ears”. The Standing Committee for National Defence isn't concerned with this issue, they are only concerned with Afghanistan, and rightfully so, as their attention should be on those still in uniform. I respectfully request that the committee as a whole, not just the Honourable Mr. Stoffer, stand up and demand action on behalf of this country's disabled veterans. Thank you.
I think Mr. Stoffer has raised this issue before, and I think we dealt with this issue before. So I don't know where you want to go with this issue, Mr. Perron.
10:50 a.m.
Bloc
Gilles-A. Perron Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I just want to know, are we going to reply to this gentleman, making our statement or something like that, or do we just leave it to die?
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Well, I think the issue has been dealt with by the committee before. This gentleman, or Mr. Stoffer if he were here, could take umbrage with it, but the issue has been dealt with.
10:50 a.m.
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
I have a quick question. If we have already dealt with this it should be in the minutes. Perhaps I wasn't there. If it is in the minutes, perhaps it could be pulled up.
10:50 a.m.
The Clerk
The minutes mention the witnesses and the motions that were passed. They include the topic of discussion and the study in question. That is all that is contained in the minutes and there is no further detail. Testimonies and anything that is said in committee is also available. For example, Mr. White could probably find what is being said at this very point in time on the Internet.
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
All right, I think we're about at time now. As I said, Tuesday we'll come back for consideration of Mr. St. Denis' bill. We'll have witnesses as best the clerk can see fit to schedule and tighten them in, and we'll see whether or not we get through that.
10:50 a.m.
An hon. member
[Inaudible—Editor]
10:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Anders
Well, this is at the will of the committee in some respects.
I think at the end of the meeting on Tuesday, if we have entirely dealt with the bill and answered any questions and dealt with it as we see fit, then we can broach that subject for Thursday.
Mrs. Hinton wishes to respond.