Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 6th, 2023

[Michael Sangster]

Yes, I'm pleased to do that.

There's one thing that I'd like to talk about, and I should have mentioned this when Mr. Richards asked me. One of the best practices when we talk about this family program is at Willis College here in Ottawa, which unleashed a $2-million scholarship fund, on their own, for families.

I believe you were there, sir, when it was announced. To go along with the veterans who are in the government's veterans education program, they have added spaces for free education for spouses and children alongside them at the very same time, so when you talk about putting pen to paper, we have a little bit from the actions of one of our colleges.

When it comes to the recruitment of best practices, one of the things that this hearing, this process, has led me to do is to take a good look at this. We're looking at some of the things that we could do better. I'm talking to our colleges and I'm looking forward to some conversations with the Department of Veterans Affairs and possibly this table we're recommending, which would put people at the table to talk about these best practices and bring them into action.

I don't believe that our association has done a good job of educating our members on some of these programs that are available, and I think we can work alongside Veterans Affairs to do more career fairs, more job fairs and more learning fairs to get to veterans. I'm hearing talk about a landing page for veterans on the stuff we do, and that's a great idea. We've been doing it in our social media, but we should have a page through our site that students can come to and learn about these programs. It might be a spouse who finds it and not the active member, and then we can get them into the training program.

I think there are some lessons learned here for us as well.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Fine, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Samson and Mr. Sangster.

Mr. Desilets, the floor is yours for two and a half minutes.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, even though you are definitely not generous.

Mr. Meunier, I'm a bit curious: in Quebec, how many educational institutions are affected? I'm talking about the ones to which you supply customers, and the ones that supply you with customers.

[Jean-Luc Meunier]

I'm not sure I understood your question properly.

Can you ask it again?

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

GardaWorld works in educational institutions in Quebec. Is that right?

[Jean-Luc Meunier]

Yes, but we often give the training ourselves.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Ah, right.

[Jean-Luc Meunier]

There is a campus accredited by the education departments in several provinces, including Quebec, where the biggest campus is located. We train a majority of our guards in Montreal, in the centre of excellence we recently created.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I understand.

Is the training given in French or English?

[Jean-Luc Meunier]

It is given in both languages.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Right.

[Jean-Luc Meunier]

In Quebec, the training is given primarily in French.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

In Montreal, about how many people does it involve?

[Jean-Luc Meunier]

We recruit 12,000 people a year. I would say that 40% of them come from Quebec.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Of those people, how many are veterans?

[Jean-Luc Meunier]

To be honest, I have to say that I don't have any statistics on that, unfortunately.

As I said, it is always voluntary for them to declare their...

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I understand.

[Jean-Luc Meunier]

I don't have any exact statistics on that.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

That's fine.

I would like to get your opinion on something we have talked about at recent meetings of the committee.

Veterans obviously have special needs. How can an employer be made to understand this?

How do you work with these employers, if you do work directly with them?

[Jean-Luc Meunier]

I am going to ask Mr. Bernier to answer your question first. I will then add to his answer.

[Simon Bernier]

In fact, that is why we have often suggested putting an accreditation system in place that would include structured best practices that all employers could follow.

I have learned a lot from Mr. Sangster's testimony and the testimony given by the University of Ottawa representative who appeared before the committee on Thursday last week. This community exchanges best practices and ways of doing things, and this creates a lot of value.

It's important that we formalize these best practices, in order to establish a certification and voluntary accreditation process that organizations and companies could join. For veterans who are transitioning to civilian life, that is a seal of confidence.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, and congratulations on your work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Desilets.

I'd now like to invite Ms. Rachel Blaney to use her two and a half minutes, please.

Go ahead, please.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

I first have a request for GardaWorld Security Corporation.

I'm wondering if you could share with the committee the starting wage and wage range for veterans in the different positions that are provided. I assume you don't have that on your person right now. That would be really helpful.

I have a second question for both of you. I'll start with GardaWorld.

I'm a little concerned, because I heard in your testimony that you don't track veterans unless they self-disclose. That's interesting. I ran a non-profit, and we had to identify everyone. There you go. That's very interesting.

How do you measure outcomes in terms of veterans getting the training, the employment and then the retention of employment?

I have the same question for you as well, Mr. Sangster, around the training, retention and employment.

That information would be really helpful to the committee.