Veterans Affairs Committee on June 12th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Blaney.

Now we're going to have the last round of questions for a total of 25 minutes.

I'm going to start with Mr. Blake Richards for five minutes.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Thank you.

In 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, an international coalition stepped up. That included thousands of brave Canadians. They fought what is known by everyone as the Gulf War or the Persian Gulf War. That is all over the website of Veterans Affairs Canada and many other government websites. It's identified quite correctly as the Gulf War, yet for the veterans who served this country in the Persian Gulf, their service is not considered wartime service. I think when most Canadians hear that they are shocked.

Mr. Harris, could you provide us some indication as to why that in fact is the case? Why does Veterans Affairs not recognize their important service as wartime service? Are there are any plans or discussions taking place to consider changing that and affording wartime service status to those brave men and women?

[Steven Harris]

Mr. Chair, I would offer the following.

One is we do recognize their brave service. It is recognized both in terms of their ability to access Veterans Affairs programs and supports that are in place and certainly from a commemorative point of view, on a quite regular basis.

There are different rules and regulations around how wartime service is defined versus other types of service. That one's out of the scope of my lane in terms of being able to answer you here.

I would offer the following, however. The department is regularly meeting with representatives of the Gulf War veterans association. We have ongoing conversations about the best ways to help and support those individuals in terms of any specific medical or program needs that they might have or in the best way to reflect them from a commemorative point of view as well. That conversation with those individuals and that association is ongoing.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

I certainly appreciate that. Certainly by no means did I intend to imply that there were not services provided, but I think the recognition of wartime service is incredibly important to many of these men and women who served in the Persian Gulf.

I understand you're saying it's outside of your area, but could you maybe go back and have a response provided to this committee as to whether any consideration is being given to extending that wartime service recognition to our Persian Gulf veterans? I would ask if you would be willing to do that for us.

[Steven Harris]

We can certainly come back to you, Mr. Chair, with the information around how each type of service is defined. It is quite clearly articulated in our legislation and on our website as well. We can certainly come back with that information and provide that to the committee.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

I would appreciate that.

I'll cede the remainder of my time to Mr. Tolmie.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Mr. Tolmie, you have two minutes left.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

When you share that with me, Chair, I sometimes think that's how much life I've got left.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

No.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Well, let's hope not.

Thank you very much.

Thank you to all of our guests for being here, and thanks to those who have served.

I echo the comments made by my colleague Mr. Richards regarding the service of our veterans in the Gulf War. I know that we've been waiting on a monument for them and that this was the first time that women served in a combat role.

Mr. Godfrey and Ms. McGrath, thank you for joining us.

I would like to focus on a question that's been bothering me, and I'm hopefully going to get some clarity from you. According to your website, in order to be eligible for the Canadian Armed Forces long-term disability benefits until you are 65, you must be assessed as totally disabled and be reassessed every year.

Can you tell me how many veterans are approved versus denied when they apply as totally disabled and how many veterans challenge their denial?

[Maureen McGrath]

Thank you for that question, Mr. Chair.

Some of that information I'll have to take away and come back to you, in terms of approval and denials.

When we take a look at overall benefits of the plan members we have on file—just let me find it here—we have end of CAF LTD benefits, at 24 months, it's 22% of women and 78% of men. Benefits that extend beyond 24 months.... I'm trying to find it here.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Okay, well—

[Maureen McGrath]

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to come back to you on that.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Okay. I want to quickly ask you if a veteran is a double amputee, who is determined to be totally disabled, does the veteran have to undergo a yearly medical review to ensure that he or she is still a double amputee? I've had an open session with veterans and I've been told this. I find it somewhat crazy that they would have to prove they're totally disabled and then they have to keep proving it.

Could you share an answer on that?

[Maureen McGrath]

I certainly can. Thank you for the question.

The annual medical review may not necessarily require that the member see a doctor, but we would do a client update. The case manager would reach out to the member. In that case, what they're doing is evaluating the plan member's ability to possibly participate in a vocational rehabilitation program, whether they are interested in returning to employment and whether they are interested in seeking assistance to either return to work or pursue retraining.

The review is to see how the member is doing and what additional supports may be available to them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, and thank you, Ms. McGrath.

Next I'd like to invite MP Darrell Samson for five minutes, please.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Ms. McGrath, I don't know if you pronounce the “th” in your name. There are Acadians back home with the same name who do not pronounce it. In any event, your French is very good.

[Maureen McGrath]

I do have an Acadian side that comes from my mother, who was an Hubert with Îles‑de‑la‑Madeleine roots.

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

Okay. We know that approximately 30% of Canadians are of Acadian descent.

Ms. McGrath, your colleague Godfrey Jerry made some comments in the beginning and gave some figures that I found interesting. I didn't catch all of them, but I did catch a few. For example, in your company, 40% of employees are veterans and 54% are women.

Can you remind me of all the figures he gave?

[Maureen McGrath]

When it comes to the rehabilitation program employees, 54% of our counsellors are women, 45% of our counsellors are veterans, and 51% of our staff are bilingual, a figure that rises to 53% for the entire department. In addition, 20% of our directors are veterans and 77% of our managers are women.

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

There is value in being impressed, and I am impressed to see that women account for such a percentage of your organization. Forty-five per cent are veterans, and 50% are bilingual. Many companies and organizations could benefit from your recruitment and retention skills.

I want to commend your organization for its efforts. I'm sure it's paying off in the marketplace. Thank you.

Mr. Marcus, in your presentation, you talked about women veterans. I'd like to know if you could share quickly with us what have been some of the biggest challenges facing women veterans in the last five to 10 years. Are you noticing an evolution and to what extent? What is the greatest challenge?

[Phil Marcus]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, but I must clarify that I didn't single out any women veterans or any statistics that we keep on that. The main point I made is that everyone is treated equally. Whatever the CAF decides in terms of medical releases is what we administer—

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

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to indicate.... My point is, what's the greatest challenge facing women veterans in the last five to 10 years when making applications?

[Phil Marcus]

Thank you.

We are the administrative arm of the medical release process, so once a determination has been made by the Canadian Armed Forces, through the director of military career administration and through the CAF transition group—through all of those steps—we are the last administrative step that takes into consideration the person and their salary at release, because that directly influences their LTD benefits, and their pension benefits, if they are eligible for a pension, and so forth.

We are purely an administrative arm of that process. We take all of that information and pass it on to Manulife, which then adjudicates the claim and keeps additional information. I wouldn't have anything specific to women or men in that process.

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

Okay. Thank you. I probably should have gone to Ms. McGrath.

I'll go to Mr. Harris to touch on the important work Veterans Affairs has been doing with the Office of Women and 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans, and also the forums we had in 2019 and 2023. Can you speak about some of the evidence that's coming out and that's helping through these various sectors of support?