Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 9th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

We have the good fortune of having Minister Greg Thompson with us today, as well as Deputy Minister Suzanne Tining. They will have the opportunity to make presentations.

Will the deputy minister be making a presentation as well, Minister Thompson?

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, Minister of Veterans Affairs]

I'm not sure.

[Suzanne Tining, Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs]

Not today, but on Wednesday.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Not today. It depends on whether I get into trouble or not, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I don't suspect that will happen.

In our routine motions, we reaffirmed that the witnesses have ten minutes to present. Then we'll go by predetermined rotation with questions afterwards. Seeing that we have quorum, then, Minister Thompson, you can begin at your pleasure.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'll begin by congratulating you on your elevation to the chair, because you were a valued member of the committee in the last Parliament. Congratulations.

As for all the new members, it's the first time for most of us, I think, that we've been at the table together. It's the first time for most of us, but not all of us, with the exception of Roger and Albina.

Albina, I think you're subbing for Judy, who couldn't make it today. Again, thank you for being here.

As well, Peter is an old friend from Atlantic Canada.

I'll get right at it, Mr. Chairman. Then, of course, we are going to go to questions and responses. I think this will probably take me about ten minutes. Hopefully, we'll get through it in no longer than that.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good afternoon to all honourable members of this committee.

Of all the work we do as members of Parliament, there are few things I can think of that are more important than what we're doing here for our nation's truest heroes.

I forgot to point out my parliamentary secretary, Greg Kerr, from Nova Scotia, Mr. Chairman. I got myself in trouble immediately. I apologize for that.

We are helping to make sure that this grateful nation repays the great debt we owe our veterans and their families. We all agree on that. We are helping to make sure Canadians remember how ordinary men and women did truly extraordinary things in defending our shared values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law.

British Prime Minister David Lloyd George captured all of this perfectly in a speech he gave just days after the end of the First World War. Some of you have probably heard me quote this before, but it's worth repeating. It's one of my favourites. “What is our task?”, the Prime Minister asked some 90 years ago. Of course, he answered his question by saying, “To make Britain a fit place for our heroes to live in”. That remains our challenge today, and our duty: to continue to make sure Canada is a fit place for our heroes to live in.

I want to congratulate each and every one of you for accepting your part in meeting this responsibility by serving on this committee.

Again, David, in my formal remarks I want to congratulate you on your election as chairman, and Peter and Judy, the new vice-chairs, as well, and I thank Roger Gaudet as a returning member of this committee.

I welcome all of you who are starting here for the first time.

You will find in the months ahead that this a truly unique committee, a committee where partisan politics takes a back seat to doing what is right and good. This is a committee that quickly teaches us how few things can unite politicians the way our veterans can. You will feel truly rewarded in spirit and in soul for the contributions you can make here.

Of course we may disagree about how we can best serve our veterans, and we may have slightly different visions, but in the end we all share the same goals: to make sure our veterans and their families receive the care and the recognition they've earned and that they deserve. For that, I want you to know that you have my full support and cooperation. Together, we can make sure Canada is worthy of its heroes.

Before I go any further with my prepared remarks, I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to Suzanne Tining, Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs.

Thank you, Suzanne, for being with us today. And of course thanks to the returning members of the committee.

Madam Tining, as you all know, has distinguished herself for her own commitment to serving and honouring our veterans and their families. She has provided steady help and guidance. I thank you for that, Suzanne, and for being with us today.

Mr. Chairman, the Department of Veterans Affairs was created 65 years ago with a straightforward mandate: to repay the nation's debt of gratitude for service to the country. Since then, Canada has seen its share of good times and bad. Canadian priorities have changed with the passing years, but never has our pride in our veterans wavered. I truly believe that never has a government done more for our veterans and their families than we have. Since taking office three years ago this month, our government has consistently stood by our veterans, and we have done it in real and lasting ways.

For example, in our first three years we have budgeted more than $1.6 billion in new spending for our veterans and the services and programs they can count on. Just two months into our first mandate, we implemented the new Veterans Charter and we set aside $740 million in new money to ensure the success of this sweeping new way of helping our veterans and their families.

The next year we approved even more new money for other veterans priorities and things our veterans have been waiting a long time for. We appointed Canada's first veterans ombudsman; we adopted a veterans bill of rights, and we increased staffing to make sure we could meet the commitments contained in the bill of rights. We also announced our plan for doubling the number of operational stress injury clinics we operate across the country. This year we will see the plan fully implemented, with a total of ten operational stress injury clinics.

As well, we used our second budget to hire peer counsellors for military families. Under our operational stress injuries social support program we are helping struggling military families by providing them with trained counsellors who have endured the same things they're going through. Veterans will tell you that these efforts are making a difference. They are improving their quality of life and making them feel whole. We haven't stopped there. Last year we invested more than $302 million over five years to extend support to survivors of war veterans. This investment included the expansion of the VIP program, the veterans independence program.

Now, in the midst of global economic crisis, when every dollar counts, we are still delivering the best possible service to Canada's veterans in a fiscally responsible manner. You'll see that reflected in our supplementary estimates, in which we put forward three items totalling $1.8 million. The three items are the sale of the Senneville Pavilion site at $600,000, the allocation of $1.1 million in advertising funds to the Veterans Week Vignette, and $100,000 from the Department of Canadian Heritage to Veterans Affairs for a partnership with the Dominion Institute in the delivery of the Memory Project Speakers Bureau.

Last year, as part of our strategic review, Veterans Affairs Canada also examined all of its programs to identify where improvements and efficiencies could be made while maintaining the level of service and benefits our veterans have come to expect. These increased efficiencies, which were essentially improved administrative measures, will help our government continue to provide first-rate care, treatment, and support of our veterans and to commemorate their achievements and sacrifices.

With every step we take and with every improvement we make, we are giving our veterans and their families more choice, more options, and more hope of living out their lives with respect, comfort, dignity, and honour. With the veterans independence program, for example, we are helping more veterans and their survivors to remain healthy and independent in their own homes and communities. That's what they keep telling us they want and what they keep demonstrating with their own personal choices.

At the same time, we are responding to our newest veterans through a living charter that meets and adjusts to their changing needs. Since its implementation three years ago, the new Veterans Charter has helped more than 12,600 Canadian Forces veterans and their families make the transition from military careers to civilian life. Disability awards have been provided to more than 10,500 veterans, and approximately 3,000 veterans have been approved for rehabilitation assistance. More families are being helped than ever before.

Veterans Affairs is also putting more of our people where they are needed to provide the best one-on-one care to our veterans. We have nearly 40 offices across the country, and we're expanding our presence on many Canadian Forces bases, thus helping to narrow what some call the “transitional gap” that used to exist between Veterans Affairs and the Department of National Defence. The result is that we're giving our care and services to more veterans.

I'd like to share with you one simple example. Since 2006 close to 400 veterans have received career counselling and help finding a job through our new job placement program. We know it's working. I recently heard the story of a young 33-year-old individual from Edmonton who had decided to leave the Canadian Forces last year. The job placement program helped him determine the right career path and gave him the training tools that he needed for his job search. Staff provided him with the encouragement and focus to stay optimistic throughout this transition. Today this former soldier is happily employed with a large waste management company in western Canada, and he readily credits our job placement program for that.

This is how we've changed the way we operate. This is how we improved Canada's approach, by being there sooner for our men and women, getting them more information faster about the benefits and services available to them, and intervening sooner when they need help. In short, we're doing everything we possibly can to provide our heroes with the support they need when they need it and where they need it.

Is it perfect? Of course not. Is there more work to be done? Of course, and I'm counting on you for your ideas and insights. As I often say, we can never do enough to repay the great debt we owe our veterans and their families.

The last thing I'd like to talk about in my remarks is remembrance. As I am sure you have noticed, Canada's pride in our veterans has reached an all-time high. At each November 11 ceremony, we're seeing record crowds here in Ottawa and across the country, and we're seeing it throughout the year with more commemorative ceremonies drawing even larger numbers. We can all feel good about that, because it's our solemn duty to make sure future generations never forget why we live in the best country in the world.

We'll be doing our part again this year with commemorative events and ceremonies such as the unveiling of the ice sculpture, which will mark the 60th anniversary of NATO, on Thursday in Ottawa. We will also be in France this spring to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the Normandy campaign, and we will remember the liberation of Belgium and the Italian campaign this year as well. We will join the countless organizations and communities across the country for commemorative events held throughout 2009 to honour our heroes, past and present.

There is a Chinese proverb that explains why these commemorative events are so important. One of our veterans shared it with me while we were in France last fall to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War. It states, “Tell me, and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand.” As Canadians, we need to understand. We need to remember that we are the inheritors of a remarkable country and a remarkable way of life made possible by truly remarkable men and women. This is our heritage, a heritage we can cherish and a heritage we must do everything we can to protect and honour, lest we forget.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Minister Thompson.

I ask you to excuse me. I should have mentioned right at the beginning that Minister Thompson will have to leave at 5 p.m., so we'll make the most of our time right now.

Ms. Foote, please.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Thank you, Minister Thompson, for coming in to be with us this afternoon. Let me say at the outset how pleased I am to be a member of this particular committee. Being from Newfoundland and Labrador, we have had our share--in fact, more than our share--of people who have served in various wars. We know, in fact, what it's like to have many, many veterans in our province, and we certainly try to do everything we can to ensure that they are treated fairly and remembered for the part they played in trying to secure the freedom of so many throughout the world.

I have a question for the minister about the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. It's been said that they have a very busy workload, with some 7,000 claims. I'm wondering if you can give me some sense of what the backlog is and how long it is taking for a claim to be processed.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

We have reduced that time lag, Ms. Foote. I believe the average claim, if my memory serves me right on this--and that's why I have the deputy with me--is a turnaround time of 29 days. So I'm off to a pretty good start.

There were a number of vacancies that weren't filled when we took office three years ago. I'm not saying it's anyone's fault, because those things just happen. But we're almost up to a full contingent now, and the turnaround time is less than it used to be. When we took office, I think we had about 7,000 cases backed up, so that's been reduced as well. We have made progress on it, and I think the people we've appointed are top-quality people. That's saying nothing about the people who had been appointed in the past, because I think even under the previous government there was more of a qualifying sense of who should be on that board. It was all part of the selection process, if you will. So we do have some good quality people on there and we're getting the kinds of results we wanted to get.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Another question that comes to mind—I was reading about this in the local media recently—is with respect to the $24,000 lump-sum payment. I'm wondering what the overall reaction has been from the veterans to that.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

I think on this one, you're referring to the $24,000 that is the atomic testing veterans'—

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

That's right.

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

—ex gratia payment.

Again, that was an issue that was.... I shouldn't say it was more of a DND issue than veterans, because obviously it does impact on veterans, but it was one of those complicated cases that lay around for a number of years, and successive governments didn't deal with it. An ex gratia payment was something we came out with I think last summer or last spring. I think it was very fair. There were no conditions attached to the payment, as you well know. It's one of those issues where men and women were asked to do something, and I guess you could argue that if it were done over again, they would never have been asked to do what they had to do. You could argue that the $24,000 was highly justified. It was a tax-free, one-time payment.

On top of that, that has never stopped...because we don't want to confuse the ex gratia payment with the ongoing disability pensions that are awarded by Veterans Affairs. We have awarded those and continue to award those, so this was on top of the pension. That pension process still can apply to those individuals if, for example, they served and have a disability that can be directly related to their service. We do have a list of those, which I actually went over today just to brief myself on what some of those conditions might be—certain skin cancers, lung conditions, and so on.

Those pensions, Ms. Foote, are still being recognized and still being awarded by Veterans Affairs on top of the $24,000 ex gratia.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Do you have a number in terms of how many veterans are receiving the lump sum?

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

I don't have that number at the top of my head, but I'm sure we'll have it before the meeting ends. Is that ongoing? I'm trying to think of when that process unfolds. On Agent Orange, for example, we have a deadline for applications, and because...let's see, what's it saying here? We announced it right at the time, September 2, 2008, and it says we will do the outreach thing. So it doesn't appear there's a timeline attached to it, and we don't have a sense of the numbers here either, but we do have those. We'll get an update and make sure we get back to you on that.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Just one other point—

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

We'll have to check with DND, because basically the program was something they were challenged with devising and coming up with. In fact, when that proposal was taken to cabinet, it was DND that brought it forward, not the Minister of Veterans Affairs, as opposed to with Agent Orange, which is just the reverse of that.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

You talked about the number of operational stress injury clinics across the country and said the plan is to see ten of those implemented across the country. Is that one in each province? Where are those located?

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

No, it's not one in every province, although most, if not all, of those provinces that have a base are in that mix. What we did on those is that we have doubled the number, and I think most of them are up and running now. I think I'm going to Vancouver next week to officially open a new site in Vancouver. Of course, I was down to Montreal about a month ago to announce a residential treatment OSI centre in Montreal. The locations are Fredericton, New Brunswick, obviously because of Base Gagetown; we have the cities of Quebec and Montreal—the out-patient clinic at Ste. Anne's as well as the residential treatment centre at Ste. Anne's. We have one here in Ottawa; London, Ontario; Winnipeg; Edmonton—which is not operational yet—and Calgary. I think the official opening of the one in Vancouver will be next week. That's up and running but not officially opened. So we we're making pretty good progress, and we've got really eight out of ten up and running.

Also, in addition to that, Ms. Foote, because I don't think I mentioned it in my opening remarks, DND has five stand-alone clinics, centres, or what they call operational trauma and stress support centres, that they operate on their own. So we've got a total of 15.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

How is the location--

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Ms. Foote. You're actually one minute over.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Random—Burin—St. George's, NL]

Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Monsieur André, for the Bloc Québécois.

[Guy André, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Good day, Minister, Ms. Tining.

This is my first time ever serving on this committee. I'm getting myself up to speed on the important veterans file and I'm starting to pour over the background material. The Montreal area is home to Ste. Anne's Hospital. Because of the situation in Afghanistan, the number of wounded veterans in need of care is increasing. Does your budget provide for an increase in services at Ste. Anne's for these veterans? I'm also aware that you have announced some major renovations to this facility. Are these renovations in line with the timetable and the budget announced?

I've read in the various documents that post-traumatic stress syndrome is a major problem. I personally lost a friend several years ago. He took his own life after a military mission. You provide services to victims of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Are victims now acknowledging more readily that they are suffering from this disorder? Have services been decentralized in order to make them more accessible to Quebeckers and Canadians?

[Greg Thompson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you. Those are good questions.

I hope I answer them all satisfactorily, Mr. Chairman, because they're complicated questions, only in the sense that there's a lot of detail surrounding much of this.

Ste. Anne's Hospital is the only veterans hospital in Canada. It's the only one left. There are about 416 beds in the hospital. It's long-term care for veterans. It has gone through major renovations. In fact, the first question that I had on the floor of the House of Commons as a minister three years ago was on the renovations. The Government of Canada invested well over $100 million in that hospital.

As well, a lot of the work, the cutting-edge work, that we do on post-traumatic stress disorder is done at that hospital. That's really the centre of excellence for this type of work that's carried on throughout the country.

In terms of Quebec itself, we do have a an OSI clinic in the city of Quebec and we also have one, obviously, in Montreal at Ste. Anne's. The only residential treatment clinic that we have, a resident clinic, is at Ste. Anne's. Truly, that's really the heart and centre of everything we do in operational stress injury. That's where the expertise lies. A lot of the cutting edge programs that we deliver have actually been designed at Ste. Anne's. It has an important role to play in the delivery of that service to our clients.

What part of the question, Mr. Chairman, have I not answered? I just want to make sure that I've answered.