Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and committee members.
I have an opening statement of about ten minutes or so.
Thank you very much for welcoming me and my colleagues here this morning.
We're responsible for different areas related to the new Veterans Charter. Hopefully we can collectively address all of the questions you may have.
Mr. Chair, it is a great pleasure for us to be here today.
We're pleased to have the opportunity to provide you with more information and clarification with respect to the suite of programs of the new Veterans Charter. We have tabled an information deck that will provide an additional level of detail.
While we're here today to speak specifically about the disability and income support programs, it's important to recognize that these programs work in concert with all the benefits under the new Veterans Charter. It is through the comprehensive nature of the suite of programs that we're able to respond to the needs of our modern-day veterans and their families.
Next week you'll hear from our colleagues on rehabilitation, the career transition program, and mental health services. They also will table additional information decks and offer to walk you through some client case scenarios. Although they are not intended to be a complete representation of all our client cases, they do help to illustrate how the programs of the new Veterans Charter can and do make positive changes in the lives of modern-day veterans and their families.
When we speak of the new Veterans Charter, we must first consider what led to its development. Prior to the new Veterans Charter, Veterans Affairs could only offer disability pensions. Because it acted as a gateway, if someone was eligible for a disability pension, only then could we provide other supports, such as health care and the veterans independence program, and then only in relation to that pension condition.
This gateway delayed treatment and often resulted in lost opportunity for successful rehabilitation and integration, and I do want to stress that point: it's not delayed opportunity, but actually lost opportunity. That's a very important point.
As well, for those who couldn't work, the disability pension did not provide a sufficient income stream to compensate for earnings lost. This caused some clients to focus more on their disability, since under the previous entitlement-based approach, the only way to get more support was to demonstrate increasing levels of disability. This resulted in poor transitioning and needs not being met. This was not our determination alone; this was what Canadian Forces members and veterans, as well as key stakeholders, were telling us.
The new Veterans Charter provides authority to offer a broader range of benefits that focus on re-establishment for today's generation of veterans and their families. The design of the new Veterans Charter is based on modern principles of disability management that stress concepts, including early intervention, a focus on wellness, and support through comprehensive programs of rehabilitation.
As a needs-based program, the new Veterans Charter provides the right level of support in relation to the level of need at the point in time when the need exists. This means that those with the greatest need get the greatest support. While those with less need may get less, they also have access to programs specifically targeted to meet their needs.
The specific features of the new Veterans Charter include, as I'm sure you're aware, a comprehensive rehabilitation program that includes medical, psychological, social, and vocational rehabilitation and a dual approach to financial compensation, and I do want to stress that aspect. The first part of it is a disability lump-sum award for pain and suffering that pays up to $276,000, and supplementary disability awards may also be paid if the condition worsens over time. The second part of that dual award approach to compensation is a monthly earnings loss benefit that is intended to replace lost income at 75% of pre-release salary while in rehabilitation or until age 65 if seriously disabled and unable to work. As well, the earnings loss benefit is indexed over time, based on a CPI indexing, and capped at 2%.
As well, the charter provides the Canadian Forces income support program. It's a financial safety net to bridge the gap for those who have successfully completed the rehabilitation program and are medically, psychologically, and vocationally able to work, but have not yet been able to find employment. The rates are at $1,273 per month for a single veteran and at $1,937 per month for a married veteran. These amounts are not taxable. I want to stress that this program is for individuals who are able and ready to work, but simply have not engaged, so this is not the earnings loss program. This is a social safety net.
Additionally, there is a supplementary retirement benefit that is payable at age 65, recognizing lost opportunity to contribute to retirement savings. This provides 2% of all the earnings loss paid for those who have been totally and permanently incapacitated.
A permanent impairment allowance that provides a monthly benefit payable for life in recognition of lost opportunity recognizes the effects that a permanent and severe impairment related to military service has on employment potential and career advancement. It pays at three grade levels that range from $536 to $1,609 and it pays on a monthly basis for life. That is for life, just to stress that point.
As well, there are expanded mental health services and supports; family support benefits; a death benefit for survivors, which is critically important, of $276,000; monthly earnings loss benefits for survivors...
Do you want me to speak more slowly?
My apologies, sir. I will speak a little slower.
There is a death benefit for survivors of $276,000, plus monthly earnings, for survivors of service-related death. That's an important point: the earnings loss that would have been paid to the veteran now pays as well to the survivor.
There are career transition services, expanded access to the public service health care plan, financial counselling, and all-important VAC case managers who coordinate services so that the services are best tailored to the individual needs of releasing Canadian Forces members and their families.
It is also of note, Mr. Chair, that since implementation of the new Veterans Charter, Veterans Affairs and DND have worked to establish integrated personal support centres that co-locate VAC client service staff with Canadian Forces staff to support CF members in their recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration.
The rehabilitation program is the cornerstone of the new Veterans Charter. If offers comprehensive rehabilitation services to a broader eligibility group than what was available before. While SISIP vocational, rehabilitation, and income replacement programs are aimed primarily at medically releasing members, VAC's rehabilitation program--and by extension the earnings loss program and other financial benefits--is not available only to CF members who are medically releasing from the forces; it also includes CF members who have not medically released but who have a service-related physical or mental health problem that at any time poses a barrier to making or maintaining successful transition to civilian life. This includes, for example, veterans who are diagnosed with service-related post traumatic stress disorder years after leaving the military.
This is an extremely important feature of the new Veterans Charter. The door never closes. The support is available at the point in time in the future when it's needed again. That is a very important guarantee of security for CF veterans.
There are also the spouses or common-law partners of those CF veterans who qualify for rehabilitation but who are unable to participate in vocational rehabilitation due to their disability and, finally, the survivors of CF veterans whose death is related to service. We can provide benefits under the NVC to all of these additional categories of recipients; benefits could not have been provided to them under the previous SISIP regime.
The new Veterans Charter also provides services to those who do not have either a disability or a barrier to re-establishment. All who honourably release have access to career transition services that can help them prepare for and find civilian employment; SISIP vocational rehabilitation is primarily intended for medically released CF members.
The new charter has created many more options to meet the needs of families. Veterans Canada has more options than ever. These options include professional and rehabilitation services that can be provided to the spouses of Canadian Forces veterans who are unable to work. Child care support can also be provided if the veteran is in rehabilitation. Family members can also have access to counselling services.
As well, there is expanded family access to the public service health care plan. Consistent with previously existing legislation, educational support is available for the children of deceased veterans who were severely disabled or whose death is related to service. In cases of service-related death, death benefits to survivors include the lump-sum death benefit of $276,000 as well as the monthly earnings loss benefit that would have been paid to the veteran. This pay is irrespective of the income or the future income of the surviving partner.
Another important component of the new Veterans Charter is the mental health services, particularly given that over the past five years the number of clients receiving disability benefits related to psychiatric conditions has increased significantly. You'll hear more about mental health services from our colleagues next week.
The design of the new Veterans Charter ensures that the level of support is proportional to the level of need. It's about providing a level of support at the point in time when the support is needed. It is not about the total amount of money paid over a veteran's lifetime; it is about providing the support and the assistance required when it is required.
In order to implement the programs of the new Veterans Charter, the government invested an additional $740 million over the first five years to fund the incremental costs over and above expenditures under the old pension program. To date the new Veterans Charter expenditures are $826 million. If the new Veterans Charter is successful over the long term, more veterans will have had a successful transition to civilian life. If that is achieved, costs could eventually be less. However, if that occurs, it will be because more veterans have successfully made it to civilian life, and that, of course, is the main goal of the program.
I thank you for the opportunity to provide you with this update.
We will be pleased to answer your questions.