Finance Committee on Feb. 5th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Mr. Ste‑Marie, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Good morning, Madam Chair.

Good morning to all my colleagues as well.

It's a pleasure to be here with you, ombud and deputy ombud. Thank you very much for joining us today.

In the past, both the Office of the Auditor General and you observed that the wait time was much longer for French-language services than for English-language services. Can you give us an update on that? Is the situation still the same, or has the issue been resolved?

[Nishika Jardine]

We prepared a report in 2018 and then another in 2022 on wait times for all veterans, including anglophones, francophones, women and men, as well as military and RCMP personnel.

In 2022, we found that there was still a disparity in the length of time it took for francophones and anglophones to be served by the department and to receive a decision on their disability claim. We have not done a follow-up since then. Our report is on our website. It shows very clearly our findings in 2022.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you.

If you get a chance, when you update that report, I would appreciate it if you could check whether francophones are experiencing longer wait times.

Still on the subject of wait times, on October 21, Deputy Minister Steven Harris told the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs that his level of satisfaction with service delivery was 7.5 out of 10. However, on the website, there is a note that says: “Thank you for your patience. We understand how important your concerns are. We are currently receiving more applications than usual, which could delay our response.”

Can you confirm that if things were going well, there wouldn't be that note?

[Nishika Jardine]

Are you referring to the memo published by my office?

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Yes.

[Nishika Jardine]

We put that up there to advise veterans and their families who came to us that we also have a backlog. As I mentioned earlier, the number of complaints to my office has increased. I have a micro office of 15 people to respond to complaints. Our backlog was increasing. We wanted to let people know that it may take us longer to get to their complaint.

I'm sorry if I didn't quite catch your question.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

No, you answered my question. It really speaks to the delays that veterans are facing. To get services, they have to turn to your very small team. I understand.

We heard Veterans Affairs Canada is cutting 15% of its budgets. Do you think that will solve the issue?

[Nishika Jardine]

I can only speak to my office. As I said, we're a small office. We also need to do our part to reduce our operational costs. We are doing our best to meet that request.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Logically, and based on your experience and that of your office, if Veterans Affairs Canada cuts resources, it could lead to an increase in complaints filed with your office, no?

[Nishika Jardine]

I wouldn't make that correlation. Certainly, we will wait to see what happens in the future. I would only ever base an assessment on the facts before me. At the moment, I attribute the increase in complaints to the fact that people now know that our office exists.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Yes, indeed. Well, the next time you appear before a committee, this one or another one, we can verify whether the 15% cut led to an increase in the number of complaints. I predict it will. I'm channelling JoJo Savard this morning.

If there's an increase in the number of complaints, considering you have a very small team, the notice on your website leads me to believe you wouldn't have the necessary resources to deal with that increase, especially since you're also being asked to make cuts. Is that correct?

[Nishika Jardine]

We do not expect to make any changes in the number of people who are working on the complaints. As I say to veterans, I do not answer the phone; it's my very highly trained staff. We will not reduce any of our staff who work on the front line, on the operations side. We will make adjustments in the administrative aspect of our office.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you.

Obviously, this is all quite alarming. When your office is experiencing increased delays, how do you characterize the tangible impact on veterans in distress or emergency situations?

[Nishika Jardine]

When we do our intake, when someone comes to our office, if we perceive there's an acute need, whether financial or something else, and if we believe there's an emergency or a crisis for those veterans, we push their file to the top. We address it immediately. We triage, so to speak.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

In this context of cuts and overloading, do you think you can fulfill your role, which is to be an independent check on Veterans Affairs Canada?

[Nishika Jardine]

Yes.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

That's fine—

[The Vice-Chair (Jasraj Hallan (Calgary East, CPC)), Conservative, Jasraj Singh Hallan]

Thank you, Mr. Ste-Marie. That's time.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Mr. Chair, you're very strict on time. I'll remember that.

Thank you very much.

[The Vice-Chair (Jasraj Hallan), Conservative, Jasraj Singh Hallan]

It's always good to see you, my friend.

Next, we have Mr. Lefebvre for five minutes.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you both for being here today. At the outset, I want to thank you as well for your service to our country. As I said in the previous hour, I have the utmost respect for the women and men who serve our country. Thank you very much.

You wrote a letter to the minister in December. It's now February 5. To provide some context for those that follow our proceedings, I'd like to clarify that the topic of your letter was the veterans community's concerns about some of the unfair retroactive measures proposed in Bill C‑15, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on November 4, 2025, which seek to exclude territories from accommodation and meal expenses charged to veterans receiving long-term care.

The minister was here in the previous hour. Did you cross paths with her when she left, between the two sessions of the meeting?

[Nishika Jardine]

Yes.

[Éric Lefebvre, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Did she talk to you?

[Nishika Jardine]

Yes.