Veterans Affairs Committee on Sept. 29th, 2011

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Right. That leads me to my next question.

I think it's been reported that the ombudsman either handles or deals with 1,700 individual cases each and every year. Is there a goal within service delivery to steadily reduce that number?

[Charlotte Stewart]

Yes, absolutely. We haven't set a target to reduce the number of requests the ombudsman will get. Having said that, we believe the changes we're putting in place are certainly going to have an impact on that number. I say this because we work with the ombudsman's office and have a very good relationship with them within the department, and they share the sets of issues.

For instance, if there is a particular issue brewing around how long it takes to see a case manager, they'll share that information with us. Therefore, we can use that information to go back and make sure that we're adequately addressing it. I think that information and the work the ombudsman does in that regard is very valuable to us.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

You mentioned in your statement that 90% of the budget goes towards veterans. Is that in direct payouts?

[Charlotte Stewart]

Pardon me?

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Are those direct cash payouts?

[Charlotte Stewart]

It includes, for instance, the disability pension, the disability award, and treatment benefits, which are for a veteran who has a disability pension for—

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

I guess what I was getting at was that of that 90%, none of it is for labour or staff, or for overhead, buildings, and infrastructure. So 90% of the budget goes directly to Canadian Forces members.

[Charlotte Stewart]

That's correct, yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you, Mr. Lobb. You're setting a great tone, as you're actually under your time. Is there nothing else from you?

Okay, then we will move to Ms. Papillon, please.

[Annick Papillon, NDP, Québec, QC]

I have several questions.

First, the government has announced budget cuts. Will the Department of Veterans Affairs be affected?

Next, according to the study entitled Survey on Transition to Civilian Life: Report on Regular Force Veterans, we must expect 12,000 of the 40,000 soldiers in Afghanistan to be suffering from major depression or post-traumatic stress syndrome. Could you tell me if you have the staff required to meet the needs of those future veterans? What specific measures will you be taking to support them?

Patients suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome can also be very difficult to treat. The department is facing a shortage of specialists. Are you planning treatment solutions for those suffering from mental health issues?

I am also aware that researchers at the Military and Veterans Health Research Institute feel that there is insufficient research into a full understanding of the mental and physical conditions affecting our veterans.

What are you going to do to improve the research into a better understanding of the health problems that our 21^st century veterans are experiencing?

The report entitled Canadian Forces Cancer and Mortality Study: Causes of Death tells us that the suicide rate for veterans is almost twice as high for those on active service. How does the department plan to deal with this alarming problem?

And how do you explain that veterans can wait up to ten years in certain cases before receiving benefits?

A number of veterans say that they sometimes feel shortchanged by the department, to the point where people mention cases of a breakdown in trust between veterans and the department. Does the department recognize this as a problem? If so, do you plan anything specific to solve it?

According to the Income Study: Regular Force Veteran Report, veterans who come under the New Veterans Charter have seen their incomes decrease much more than those who fall under the Pension Act. How do you justify this decrease in the income of our veterans?

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Before the witnesses start, I want to indicate that it is a five-minute block, so I may cut you off before you answer all the questions. I just want to caution you.

[Annick Papillon, NDP, Québec, QC]

It’s on the record.

[Bernard Butler]

Thank you very much for your questions, madam. There were several. I will do my best to answer them.

I believe the first question was around our deficit reduction action plan response. The only thing I can say right now is that as you are well aware, all government departments have been asked to put forth proposals with respect to these plans. We are all engaged in that process, and as you can well imagine these are all a matter at this time of cabinet confidence. It will be the cabinet that will ultimately decide how each department's responses will be managed. From our point of view we can offer nothing further. Simply, we will wait until our minister tells us how that will play out, if at all.

On the second range of questions you asked, there is certainly a recurring theme around mental health, and post-traumatic stress disorder in particular. I would like to offer that the Department of Veterans Affairs is very much engaged in addressing the mental health needs of our modern-day veterans. We have a very robust mental health strategy. That strategy basically has involved a number of elements. It includes very aggressive case management at the front end for individuals who present with mental health illnesses. We have mental health resources. We have a regional mental health officer in each of our regional offices. We have access to clinical care managers across the country. These are individuals with expertise in managing mental health issues. In partnership with the Canadian Forces, we have no fewer than 17 mental health clinics; we call them occupational stress injury clinics. Veterans Affairs Canada has ten of them, and seven are provided by the Canadian Forces.

Veterans have access to these clinics, as do their families who are experiencing mental health issues. We have access to at least seven specialty centres across the country that deal with addictions and substance abuse, which are often co-existing with mental health conditions. We aggressively monitor research on mental health issues. We have partnerships that we've developed with other agencies, like the Mental Health Commission of Canada, to help our understanding and our management of the issues.

So we are--

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Mr. Butler, perhaps in the next round you may get a chance to fill in further. We're well past our time right now for that particular slot.

I'll now go to Mr. Storseth for five minutes.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have to admit I'm a little intimidated. Our last couple of chairs were far more lenient with us, so we're all still adapting here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

[Inaudible--Editor]

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

No argument there.

As we sit down and talk about the transformation, I can't help but look back at Veterans Affairs, and especially our First and Second World War veterans and Korean War veterans. It seems that the department identified different issues as the years went on and we have a patchwork of fixes all over the place. I hope we look at the fact that we do have a major new client base in the department, and with this opportunity for transformational change things can be more cohesive for our modern-day veterans moving forward.

The operational stress clinics are an absolute success. I think it is important, though, that we make sure they have the proper staffing levels. I know I have one in my riding. We have to make sure they have adequate resources so the members in rural communities don't have to drive for two and a half hours to go to Edmonton and the clinics can be more accessible so they can take better advantage of them.

I have a question for you. We talked briefly about the lump sum option and the changes you made there. I think it's good news. For those members who decide to leave a portion of the lump sum, will they accrue interest with that?

[Bernard Butler]

Yes, they will. That has been calculated into the formula for payment. There will be an interest payment based on a government standard rate for this type of activity.

If you took your lump sum in annual payments over 20 years, there would be actually more money paid out because of that interest factor. But that's simply returning the interest to the veteran.

The flip side would be that if you chose to take it all as a lump sum you would then have the investment opportunity of that lump sum over that same time period.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Who sits down with the individual CF member as he's making these decisions? Do we provide him with an adviser? Does he have access to a private adviser?

[Bernard Butler]

That's a very good question. Under the new Veterans Charter, $500 is made available for financial counselling to members as they retire or transition. It was recognized that to put money in the hands of individuals without that would put them more at risk. Those services are available through a payment that the new Veterans Charter provides.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Excellent. How many members of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board are there?

[Bernard Butler]

I believe--

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Sorry. I'm bouncing around on you a little bit, Mr. Butler, so take your time.

[Bernard Butler]

I'm going to guess it's around 24 members and 100 staff. The members are Governor in Council appointments.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

If you don't know the answer to this, that's fine. I'd appreciate it if you could send this to us in a written submission. How many of those members have medical training?