Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 23rd, 2009

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Okay. In Canada, we have a program that allows veterans and/or their spouses to stay in their homes longer if they have a disability pension from the government. For example, if a World War II veteran is 84 years old and he's in his home and needs help with groundskeeping or housekeeping services, if he's receiving a pension, then he can apply for what we call the veterans independence program, which allows him to stay in his home longer. Does France have a program similar to that?

[Col Jean-Michel Verney]

Yes, absolutely. I spoke mostly about disability pensions, but also about military rank. When the disability rate exceeds 85%, the pension is topped up with benefits which are paid out mainly to veterans who have suffered a high degree of mutilation or who have been rendered severely disabled. The benefits go up depending on the assessed level of disability. If the level of disability exceeds 85%, there is a staggered system of benefits which is paid on top of the pension. Further, aside from these benefits, there is financial support for a third party for severely disabled and mutilated veterans to hire a permanent caregiver in the home, as well as a special benefit for people who need nursing services.

So there is much more help available than a pension for a veteran with an assessed rate of disability. There are other support measures available depending on the needs of a person, including financial support to hire a full-time caregiver in the home.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

We're noticing now that more and more of our young veterans are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. One of the difficulties we have in Canada is finding qualified people who are trained psychologists or people with psychiatric training to assist them, not just within the military but in private life as well. Does France have the similar problem of soldiers coming back with psychological problems? Do you have the adequate personnel to be able to deal with their specific problems in that regard, or are you short as well?

[Col Jean-Michel Verney]

We share the same problems that Canada has. Those illnesses are very insidious and not always easy to diagnose. In fact, very few countries have a lot of experience in this area. Perhaps this is mainly due to the military itself, which is still reluctant to recognize this type of pathology because it is not always easy to explain in a military context.

In my view, France is in the same position as Canada. There is probably still a lot of room for improvement to help people suffering psychological damage when they come home.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Mr. Stoffer.

Mr. Dryden, for five minutes.

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Colonel, my question is almost identical to that of Mr. Stoffer. It is regarding the transition of veterans from military to civilian life, as well as their training needs and other such things. I am not necessarily interested in the medical or psychological aspects.

Things were different 50 or 60 years ago, when almost an entire generation experienced the same conditions. Those people collectively experienced the transition from war to peace. Few people experience that today. For private companies that offer training, things are not the same as five years ago. Today, veterans must pursue training in schools and institutions.

Do the programs and services in France reflect the differences between veterans' affairs of years passed and present? Today's veterans share a unique experience that is different from those of their colleague who are five years older than they are. They have to make a transition and find a job.

[Col Jean-Michel Verney]

I think that that is probably a weakness, at least in France. Clearly, as you have said, today's veterans are different from those of the First and Second World Wars. There are many veterans who must face very different situations. When they leave the army or want to benefit from professional retraining, their program is likely to be very personalized.

I think that what the government is trying to do is to increase the funding for those schools engaged in retraining. The government has placed great importance on this issue. In my opening remarks, I said that the actions taken today in France with regard to its veterans do not lie in the pursuit of new approaches, but in the proper allocation of funding to support them.

In fact, one has to recognize that the status of veterans is relatively broad, because today's army has to be ready to be deployed. All active military personnel find themselves at one time or another in a theatre of operations and are almost certainly defined as veterans.

As a result, we are obliged to offer benefits to an increasing number of personnel. There is a very significant increase in the number of French veterans. The budgets must reflect that, and I believe that one of the department's major challenges is to be able to support all those benefits, not only as a budget line item, but according to the diverse circumstances involved.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, gentlemen.

The rotation goes back to the Conservative Party now. Do we have some questions on this side?

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

I think we're fine, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

He has answered the questions?

Then I'll ask the Bloc Québécois. Do you have any questions? Pas de question, monsieur?

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

That's it.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

The Liberal Party?

Mr. Stoffer?

Thank you very much, Colonel.

We really appreciate your taking the time, and you were very confident in answering a host of questions from a robust field of expertise. So thank you very much.

We'll take a couple of minutes to break right now.

[Col Jean-Michel Verney]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Then we'll come back to do some other committee business. If you'd like to bid the colonel farewell, please do.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Let's come back now, ladies and gentlemen, to some committee business.

Mr. Kerr has something that he wants to deal with for the record. Then we'll get into six different items that we have to deal with.

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I did mention this—actually, Scott wasn't there at the time—to the other two gentleman. It's just to correct a comment by the Honourable Albina Guarnieri, when she was here, representing duty that day. There was a wonderful exchange between her and the minister, very engaging.

At one point they were talking about the losses in Afghanistan, and she suggested that none happened during her ministry, and I just want to put on the record that there actually were casualties at the very start under her ministry. I just want to correct the record.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Is there any other conversation to that regard?

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Okay. Then we'll get into the business at hand.

We're having some difficulty lining up witnesses for the next meeting. In fact, those from Veterans Affairs in the U.S. felt that our questions were going to be broad-ranging to the degree that they wanted us to go to Washington. So we could talk about that, but I'm thinking about the expense and the time that would take. Of course, again, I always say that I'm at the behest of the committee, but I'm wondering if we may go back to them and ask for two video sessions or some other way of facilitating this without travelling. We already have two trips to be talking about right now, but I'm open for dialogue on this.

Mr. Stoffer.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

The last time I mentioned something called the George Reed hospital, but it's actually the Walter Reed Hospital. George Reed was a football player with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

It would be interesting to see, with the new administration in the United States, when they say they're going to put a big focus on improving benefits for veterans, exactly what they mean by that, and what were the deficiencies before and what improvements they would like to see in the future under the new economic circumstances. If it can be done by video, great, but if not, a visit to the Walter Reed Hospital would be fantastic. We could compare that to, say, Ste. Anne's Hospital in Quebec. It would be quite interesting.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Is there anybody else on this topic?

Michel, go ahead.

[Michel Rossignol]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I just wanted to point out that the Walter Reed Hospital is the army medical centre. It's a military administration. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has its own medical facilities for veterans. So a trip might be possible to the Walter Reed Hospital, but there are also Veterans Affairs-administered facilities that would be available for a visit or for discussions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Mr. McColeman.

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brant, ON]

I would be inclined not to travel. I think the questions Mr. Stoffer presented are readily answerable via video conference or another fashion, and I just think it's money we should not be spending.