Evidence of meeting #21 for Veterans Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was charter.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much for inviting these guests today.
You're both reservists.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
You both served our country. You both have the same initials. You've both agreed to share your experiences with us, and we are grateful.
I've written about 10 questions I want to ask you. My first question is of a personal nature.
I'm concerned about your medical files, Mr. Fascinato. I'm glad they were recovered.
Do you know if their confidentiality was breached?
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
Not to my knowledge. I believe, to clarify, they were just misplaced. There was no risk to the information.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Okay. I don't want to take too much time about it because I've got 10 other questions and I only have six minutes.
Last week I got to ask one question. The guy took seven minutes to answer.
4:50 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Mr. Fleming, your experience is obviously different. You're of a different generation.
Can you elaborate on how the process has changed over time?
4:50 p.m.
Member, 31 CBG Veterans Well Being Network
I'm actually grateful in that we acknowledge it now.
When I joined the military initially in 1987, it was before you had mixed genders in the combat arms, and it was a very different military. I'm not saying one's better than the other. The Canadian Forces today certainly has a lot better equipment than we had, but at least there's an awareness and more of an acceptance.
Really quick, something that really touched me was a video clip I saw on Rick Mercer's show, and the CDS was on there. Honestly, that's huge. A year ago I was very despondent about the fact that I was always one of the guys. I held up a lot of people around me. That's my reputation. I've been that way for decades now, 24 years. I hold up a lot of people. When I saw lots of people dropping, and I felt like I had no one else to help me hold them up, it just crushed me. At least what I see now, when I see MPs stand up in the House and defend my brothers, and when I see this government has taken actually really solid steps, where the hiring initiative for the federal government is going to give families hope, you guys are making a difference.
If you'd asked me a year ago, I would have said you don't get it. I think you get it now. I think it just has to work its way through and we have to improve upon it, but you get it now. So it's happening.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
What type of support did you receive from the military in terms of medical, mental health, or...?
4:55 p.m.
Member, 31 CBG Veterans Well Being Network
There was nothing when I came out. Officially I came out in 1994, and—
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Did you encounter any barriers, and if so, do they still exist?
4:55 p.m.
Member, 31 CBG Veterans Well Being Network
I didn't actually reach out until the spring of last year. I can't say enough about my initial case manager and my current case manager. It was Kerry Wilkinson out of the Hamilton office.
They were fantastic, absolutely fantastic. They were knowledgeable. They had expertise and compassion. But you need that human element. I'm not trying to be partisan in any way, but you need the human element there. I have a smart app on my phone, and it's not the same as dealing with someone who gets it.
How you deliver that, I'm not questioning; but you need that human element there. You need someone to talk to when you need them.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
You've answered the next two questions already. Thank you.
We hear about complaints about the Department of Veterans Affairs. What complaints would you focus on, if you were sharing them with us?
4:55 p.m.
Member, 31 CBG Veterans Well Being Network
It's the ability to talk to a case manager—
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Member, 31 CBG Veterans Well Being Network
Oh. It's the ability to get past the initial phone call trying to get in.
Once I talked to a case manager and she got it, wow, the services were there. It was fantastic.
The difficulty is that it's almost like there's a filter that is very hard to get past. Once you get past it, the quality of the personnel who are handling you and the dignity they provide you with are absolutely first class. But it's getting to them. In some ways I almost have to apologize to my colleagues at work. I was very depressed for more than a year and a half, and I had my hand up for a year and a half. I would call every four weeks or so, “Can I talk to someone?” I was told to fill out a form, and get this and get that. To me, it felt like it took forever. But once I was in, once I had a case manager assigned to me....
I have no complaints now. It's just getting to them; that's the thing that I think you need to fix first.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Greg Kerr
You're past the six minutes. It's fascinating how fast it goes.
Just before we suspend and before I thank everyone, we did have a piece of business. I understand there is perhaps a desire to do it on Thursday. I'm telling you that we're really squeezed for time on Thursday, so it means you would almost have to come in a little early before the meeting to do it.
This is just to get the analysts lining things up, while we're away for two weeks, in order to get the study under way.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Sure. If it takes five minutes, we could do it now. We're basically giving direction to the analysts, right?
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Greg Kerr
Well, I don't want to debate it now for 10 minutes. I want to know whether we're going to deal with it now or deal with it—
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
