Veterans Affairs Committee on March 23rd, 2010

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I have a couple of issues. I just wanted to let you know that we're getting a fair number of calls from people who have left the military and are awaiting their superannuation pension. It takes up to four to six months sometimes, and we hear that there's quite a backlog. Anything you can do to tell those folks over there to speed it up would be very helpful.

One of the concerns we have is that if someone's suffering a physical or mental injury, compounding financial difficulties on top of it just adds that much more stress. Not many people can go for six months without some kind of payment. Is there anything you can do to kick some butt, maybe? As a general, you have the right to do that.

[BGen D.C. Kettle]

I'm a chaplain; we don't often kick too much butt.

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

The other thing is that we just heard from Commodore Yung at the health committee--a really decent guy--about what they're doing to improve mental and physical health services within the military. That's all great, and it's a great improvement from what it was a few years ago, but there is a problem.

I'll take the Stadacona Hospital in Halifax, for example. You're a current service person receiving medical or psychological treatment at “Stad”. Now you're medically released. You know longer get to go to “Stad”; you go into the provincial system.

This committee will hear from Lieutenant-Commander (Retired) Heather McKinnon, who is a fabulous doctor. She deals with a tremendous number of veterans and their families on a lot of these medical and psychological issues. The problem is that it's just her. When she leaves, a lot of these people are going to be left with regular doctors who were transferring their patients to her because they don't understand the military or RCMP system.

One of the biggest gaps that I see.... And may I say, along with others, how pleased we are--I know the chair and I have been here for a while--to see the very rapid progress of the coordination between DND and VAC. Congratulations. I know there's more to be done, but that's very good compared to what it was when I was first here.

The problem is that now that they've left the military, they've lost that support system within the military. They're now into VAC, with completely new people and everything else. That's a pretty drastic change. Can you comment on what improvements can or should be done, either from our level or at your level, to have that continuity of service.

Sir, you said that they get one person with them for a long time at SISIP. We don't do that in the military or VAC; you get a bunch of new people. If I had a problem and I was talking to you for over a year, I'd get to know you; I'd get to trust you. If all of a sudden you're gone and I go to someone else, that's a huge shock. I wonder if you could comment on that, please.

Again, thank you for your service.

[Col Gerry Blais]

I'm not in a position to comment on that because it's more of a health services issue. Unfortunately, it's outside of my lane.

[Doug Chislett]

Sir, I can comment on your first comment before you got onto this point.

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

Okay.

[Doug Chislett]

You were asking about the wait for the CF pension. The delivery of that pension is based on the exigencies of the service as to whether they have the people in place. SISIP recognizes that this can be a problem. On a case-by-case basis, we will identify that this individual is getting a pension and make an estimate so we can start a SISIP LTD fund and they will have some flow of money while they wait for the pension to come through.

[BGen D.C. Kettle]

I want to comment that like Mr. Mayes, my dad is a Second World War veteran and he benefits from veterans allowances. Yes, we see different case workers from time to time, but all of them are absolutely stellar. My father has gotten everything that he requires. I realize there's new challenge with our new veterans, but they have quality people there and they provide a quality service.

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

I'm not questioning the quality; the question is the number. I don't think there are enough people in the sector--trained psychologists, doctors, etc.--who understand. If we had more, a lot of the problems would be lessened.

Finally, I want to say that Mr. Mayes' father actually liberated my father; I was born in Holland. That's why we wear the liberation pin for May 4. Thanks to your Dad.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Well, that was a great friendly bridge.

Now onto the

The Bloc Québécois, for five minutes.

Monsieur André...not Mr. Vincent?

[Some hon. members]

Yes.

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

Very quickly, you said earlier, Mr. Blais, that you were a bit critical of the lump sum payments in certain situations. I would like to hear more from you about the situations where you are against providing lump sum payments instead of monthly benefits.

[Col Gerry Blais]

"Against" may be a bit of an exaggeration.

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

Or where you question or criticize this practice.

[Col Gerry Blais]

There are certain cases where we could perhaps do more. In the case of a young person who has lost both legs, for example, and who has two young children and a wife and who is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, the lump sum payment may not be used as it should be because of the PTSD. In that case, the family may run into problems because the money has been spent. In that kind of situation, it might be preferable to handle things differently. On the other hand, there have to be discussions about what the precise solution or figure should be.

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

Handling things in another way would mean providing a monthly payment?

[Col Gerry Blais]

That would be a possibility.

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

You were talking about people suffering from PTSD. I want to come back to a question my colleague asked earlier. When a soldier, a veteran, realizes after a few years that he is having difficulty sleeping and is suffering from anxiety, that he is dealing with post-traumatic stress syndrome, an assessment is done by a psychologist or a human behaviour specialist. The veteran notifies Veterans Affairs of the situation and the diagnosis is challenged. I am giving an example.

Let us assume that the claim is rejected by the department or that more information is requested. If a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress syndrome is challenged, does the person have to redo his whole medical history and go through the whole assessment process again with someone else?

[Col Gerry Blais]

That would be a question to ask the Department of Veterans Affairs—

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

You cannot give me an answer.

[Col Gerry Blais]

No.

[André Bouchard]

I would like to add something. I think that this question was asked earlier. Once a diagnosis of PTSD has been made and it is clear that it is the right diagnosis, it is very often the case that no questions are ever raised. Only when it is not quite clear that we are dealing with PTSD do we ask a few more questions on the medical side. If a clear diagnosis has been made, it is never challenged.

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

Yes, but on the medical side, you have to put the same questions to the person dealing with the problem.

[André Bouchard]

We will not ask the same questions. Once we receive the medical evidence and it is clear that the person is suffering from PTSD, we will never challenge the diagnosis.

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

The person will not have to repeat his history to another specialist [Editor's Note: Inaudible].