Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 9th, 2012

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Do you have an office in Wainwright, for example?

[Bill Foster]

No, we don't.

If, for example, the individual needed face-to-face coaching, we would provide that. What often happens is that we would have the individual coach or counsellor meet the individual at the base or in a mutually convenient place for them, or have that meeting at their house. In some places where we don't have an office, that's an opportunity to get together.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Do the men and women you're working with find this an agreeable situation?

[Bill Foster]

Yes, very much. It works out for them, absolutely.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Good.

Ms. Gueulette, one thing in your presentation I was interested in is where you talked about 90% of the people you have dealt with to date have PTSD. Are these 90% in a stable condition, or are these people...? Where are they in the process with PTSD?

[Tricia Gueulette]

Generally speaking, when they're referred to us, the VAC case manager has already consulted with a psychologist, and that client has been in treatment through the OSI clinics, for example. If they have not, then we often will have them assessed at that time by a psychologist and work with that psychologist.

Sometimes they are still in treatment. We would obviously never recommend moving forward with the plan until that person was stabilized.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

You also mentioned in your presentation that people are moving through the process through National Defence and may or may not be on SISIP, and are then transitioning through and so end up on the earnings loss benefit. Are you familiar with this program, and are the people you are working with receiving benefits with the earnings loss benefit? Of the 1,900, there's a good chance that a large majority of them would be receiving the earnings loss benefit of some sort or another?

[Tricia Guelette]

Yes.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Okay.

One other question I have is the cost. In your presentation—and Mr. Foster, if you want to add to it as well, feel free—your agreement is that if this is above and beyond your services, you cover some of the cost. What does the department say when you bring this up to them?

[Tricia Gueulette]

Everybody wants to help veterans; I mean, they are wanting to help them just as much as everybody at this table.

They are bound by the structure they work within at this time. We all work together to the best end that we can, but we're all bound by the rules. It's not for lack of wanting to make a difference; it's just the rules we're faced with.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

If you weren't covering the cost, how long do you have to wait to receive payment back?

[Tricia Gueulette]

Our contract stipulates that we submit an invoice, they review it within 15 days, and then reimburse us within 30 days.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Also in your presentation, you talked about maybe setting up a website down the road, a portal for job postings. DND has one already, and we have one—I guess at some point we’ll be coming through with “Helmets to Hardhats”. Is this something that you can see yourselves kind of meshing together, to provide the ultimate portal for people looking for jobs? How do you see that? Is that something you've discussed with the bureaucrats at Veterans Affairs Canada?

[Tricia Gueulette]

We've certainly never discussed it. It's something that we've experienced. We've had lots of employers phoning us who want to hire veterans. You have a portal, obviously, where you can post jobs.

I think at the end of the day we're all just trying to make a difference. We want to make it easy for employers to find veterans with these great skill sets and to match them to jobs.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Did you want Mr. Foster to answer as well? You're near the end there.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Sure.

[Bill Foster]

I think Carol can address the payment piece; I just want to talk about the Helmets to Hardhats program.

Certainly that's a fantastic program. We are aware that it's still getting up to speed and getting organized. As we learn more about the program, perhaps we can have some conversations about the type of portal that's being discussed. It could be something that we could look at, perhaps, having jobs put on our bank that reflect the portal. There are a number of technical solutions that probably can do that.

I think it's really important, though, that the program get lots of publicity, because it will really benefit a lot of the veterans we're working with.

Do you want to add the other piece?

[Carol Hurst]

Certainly.

We're very much like CanVet; when we submit an invoice, VAC reviews it within 15 days, and we receive payment within 30.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Casey, you have five minutes.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. Gueulette, your relationship with Veterans Affairs started when you responded to a request for proposals a couple of years ago. In terms of the services that you provide, were they provided either by government or by another company before you won the contract?

[Tricia Gueulette]

They were provided by interim services while the contract was in the bid process. These are new services that were brought on by the new Veterans Charter.

During the bid process, which took some time to complete, Veterans Affairs arranged for interim providers to provide the services while the bid process was going on. Once the bid was awarded, we won the bid and took over those services. Now we're able to provide a national approach.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Were you one of the interim providers?

[Tricia Gueulette]

Our company was not an interim provider.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Okay.

We heard from Right Management that they're on a fee-for-service basis. Are you as well?

[Tricia Gueulette]

We are on a fee-for-service basis, yes.