Evidence of meeting #23 for National Defence in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was believe.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
Mr. Chair, as we have a very important witness in front of us, I move that the debate on this motion be now adjourned.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
12:30 p.m.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
Just for clarification, then, Mr. Chairman, we had the government that wanted to get rid of this motion and all the opposition voted in favour—just to clarify that the opposition wanted the motion to go forth and be discussed and voted upon, but the Liberals, the government members, decided to shoot it down.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
12:30 p.m.
An hon. member
We are going to debate the motion.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
We're supposed to deliberate before making a decision.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Stephen Fuhr
It was a big ask. I understand that. We're going to move forward.
I'm going to turn the floor over now to Mr. Fisher. You had a quick one, and you can split your five minutes. Then we'll move over to Mr. Randall Garrison after that.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
I'll try to be quick. It concerns the home equity assistance program.
Not to make it too personal, but I have a constituent in my riding who has suffered greatly and has fought this for years. I think you may have even been speaking of him when you were discussing some of the problems with the program.
You say it's fixable. Can you give me an idea of how we can fix this? Could we possibly see making the fix retroactive? This is a gentleman with six children who suffered greatly in 2009 or 2010 when the market crashed. You say it's fixable. Do you have any ideas on how we could move forward with a fix on it?
12:30 p.m.
Ombudsman, National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman
I think all issues are fixable.
For the home equity assistance program, I think the threshold of proving a 20% reduction in the value of your home may be a little unreasonable. Look at Alberta this year and what has happened and what is going to happen to house prices because of the price of oil, which has nothing to do with the Canadian Armed Forces but will have an impact on members who happen to buy or sell a home in that area.
There are two sides to home equity assistance. Sometimes the members sell and they make a good return on their property, but there are times when members face catastrophic losses, and we're probably talking about the same constituent. In those particular cases I think there should be flexibility.
I think the 20% level is high, and the person who determined that they did not meet that standard was also, I think, the same entity who did the revision on it to determine whether the first one was correct.
I believe it's fixable, but it's going to take some want and desire to do it. I just think that maybe 20% is a little bit much.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Do we fix it through DND or do we fix it through Treasury Board?
12:30 p.m.
Ombudsman, National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman
It's not for me to say how.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Rioux Liberal Saint-Jean, QC
In your presentation, you stated: “Improving the transition process should be a no fail mission.”
I think we all agree with that statement. My question is why Veterans Affairs Canada has a backlog of 11,500 applications? How did it get to that point?
12:30 p.m.
Ombudsman, National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman
First of all, there is a Veterans Affairs ombudsman, Mr. Guy Parent. I think that would be a question best asked of that office or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
From my experience, I think you're going to hear that because of the previous cuts in staff, the backlog arrived. Well, there has always been a backlog at Veterans Affairs Canada, for one reason or another, through no fault of their own.
That's where we find ourselves. That's the current status today. I think those would be good questions for the veterans ombudsman or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Rioux Liberal Saint-Jean, QC
You made recommendations, four of them, I believe. You recommend essentially that the income of service members be confirmed before they leave the army, that the medical report follow the patient and be recognized by Veterans Affairs Canada, that a concierge program be created, and that information be provided to force members.
Will these recommendations reduce the number of applications? Do you think the government has the will to do this?
12:35 p.m.
Ombudsman, National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman
I'm not sure if it will reduce the number of requests, but I do believe it will reduce the amount of time it takes to process the requests. We have had a consistent, on average, 1,500 to 1,800 medically releasing members over the last number of years. It seems to be consistent. It seems to stay at that number.
I don't think the number of applications going into Veterans Affairs would be any greater, but I believe our ability to respond to them would be greatly enhanced. I think that's where the value would come in the recommendations we've put forward.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Rioux Liberal Saint-Jean, QC
Do yo have any other recommendations to reduce the number of applications or do we simply have to accept this situation? I suppose there must be alternatives to consider in order to recognize the service of our force members and veterans.
12:35 p.m.
Ombudsman, National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman
I think there's still much that we can do. I do believe we are data rich and knowledge poor. I believe we can determine which trades, which occupations, will result in maladies. I think we know that. Paratroopers, for example, have bad knees and bad backs.
I think there is a lot that we can do. I believe this is just a starting point. I think this will have the greatest impact on turnaround times for transitioning members immediately, but I believe there's more that we can do. I think we can get to a point where we can predict what and when things will happen.
I do believe the ability is there. Will we be doing more? One hill at a time. I think there's much more that we can do.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Rioux Liberal Saint-Jean, QC
As I understand it, this is the first phase and others will follow to show our appreciation of members of the military.
Thank you very much for this information.
12:35 p.m.
NDP
Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC
Mr. Chair, I appreciate the Conservatives pointing out that motions on the topic today could be dealt with, so I'm going to do what most people probably expect me to do at this time, and that's to move the motion that I earlier gave notice of:
That the Committee recommend that the Honourable Minister of National Defence authorize the National Defence and Canadian Forces Ombudsman to revise the service records of LGBTQ members of the Canadian Forces who received dishonourable discharges from the military based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
It's my hope there may be one or more of the Liberals who are prepared to vote on this motion today. People have been waiting since 1992, when the military made the decision to allow people to serve, for a correction of this omission. It has very direct effects and impacts on their lives every day. I'd like to put the motion now.