Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 4th, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much. We're over five minutes.

I want to point out that Mr. Stoffer has this magical way of asking 50 questions and expecting people to answer in the time. We're going to squeeze the NDP a little bit on the last one, if we have to.

It's just that we have to keep to the time limits. I apologize, but I do have to cut you off at that point.

Mr. Daniel.

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you very much for attending. I've listened to what you've said.

For me, I just want to know if you could explain a bit better the funeral and burial program process, in particular the assessment on whether veterans are eligible or not and how you determine whether they have sufficient funds. It seems like a difficult time for them and their families in how long that process takes.

[Derek Sullivan]

I'll start by saying that any veteran who dies as a result of their military service--so if they die as a result of an illness or injury for which they have a disability pension or disability award--Veterans Affairs will provide funeral and burial assistance without regard to their financial means at the time of their death.

In addition, Second World War and Korean War veterans who have insufficient means.... And that's based on a means test that takes into consideration whether or not they have a surviving dependant, usually a spouse, and it looks at what assets there are between the veteran and the surviving spouse. A couple of things are exempted--the principal residence and one automobile. Other assets are considered as part of the means test, the asset test, to determine whether or not they are eligible. If they have more than $12,700 in those other more liquid assets, they are expected to contribute to the cost of the funeral and burial. If they are a few hundred dollars over that line, then that is what their contribution would be, a few hundred dollars, and they would receive a partial funeral and burial grant.

For post-Korean War veterans, there is one difference in the eligibility criteria. In order to be considered for the means test, they must be in receipt of a departmental benefit. That could be a disability pension, a disability award, an income support, or, right now, earnings-loss compensation. If they die while in receipt of any of those benefits, then exactly the same means test is applied.

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

How long does that process take?

[Derek Sullivan]

It usually doesn't take very long. That program is administered for us by the Last Post Fund, a not-for-profit corporation with offices across the country. Their staff can do it very quickly. As you say, it's a very difficult time for the family, and the biggest challenge and unfortunately the delay are most often related to in fact getting the information needed to do that assessment.

There are instances in which the Last Post Fund will provide the assistance and do the assessment afterwards, and if they are required to do some recovery of costs afterwards, they will do that.

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Go ahead very briefly, Mr. Daniel.

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

I will change the subject completely. Is there any support for veterans who were not Canadians when they were fighting--for example, Vietnam War veterans who are now living permanently in Canada? Is there any support for any people like that?

[Derek Sullivan]

No, there isn't. The programs we have are for Canadian veterans and allied veterans from conflicts in which Canadians participated.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much.

We will now go to Ms. Mathyssen for four minutes.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'm interested in the role of women. We haven't discussed that to any great degree. Yesterday I received a poster from Status of Women Canada in honour of Women's History Month and the contribution of women. I wondered what role Veterans Affairs will be taking in terms of celebrating and honouring women. Very often they do tend to be overlooked.

[Derek Sullivan]

Actually, thank you for coming back to that, because I think last week, or maybe the week before, we launched on our website a brand-new web feature in time for Women's History Month. It is called “Women at War”. It is in fact a feature that pays tribute to the service of women throughout Canada's history, up to and including today.

We have about eight or ten special web features. This is one that we have done specifically to recognize the role of women in the services over the years.

As well, most recently, in 2009 or 2010....

[Peter Mills]

Winterlude? Yes, 2011, in February.

We have a partnership with the NCC for Winterlude where we do a major ice wall sculpture. This year's sculpture focused on the history of women in the Canadian Forces. It featured a re-creation in ice of the nursing sisters memorial that sits here on the Hill, and then had figures of women in non-traditional roles surrounding that with some interpretive panels. Then we had some marquee female veteran guests out, such as the first Canadian female fighter pilot, and the first Canadian female general was out with us that evening to commemorate the exploits and the history of women in the Canadian Forces.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

We have a little bit of time left if you have another question.

[Annick Papillon, NDP, Québec, QC]

The senator spoke to us earlier, and I would simply like to know if there are any projects involving black veterans. Are there projects in the works in that area?

[Derek Sullivan]

Actually, yes.

There are not necessarily plans in the works. There's actually a great deal being done now to recognize black Canadian veterans. I mentioned that we have a relatively small number of special features on our website paying tribute to groups of veterans. One of these web features is called “Black Canadians in Uniform”, and we've had that for two or three years. I forget exactly how long since we launched that. It in fact is called “Black Canadians in Uniform--a Proud Tradition”. It presents the history, from before the First World War right up to today, of black Canadians in uniform. It profiles in particular, as many of our things do, some individuals' stories as examples to highlight or profile. There are profiles of four black Canadians from each of the major conflicts over the last century or so. There is a photo gallery. We also have seven of our heroes remember, in interview clips, as part of this feature with black veterans.

Also, in the learning materials you have in front of you, in four of the last six years we've had special features on black veterans. In 2006 we had an article on Canada's black battalion. In 2009 we had an article entitled “Nova Scotia hero receives VC”, and that was on William Hall. In 2010 we had a story called “A Real Life Band of Brothers”, and it featured the Carty family. I can't remember exactly the number of members of the Carty family who served, but it was five or six. I can get you more information if you are interested. This year we also have a piece, in the paper in front of you, entitled “Recognized at Last”, and it's on Jeremiah Jones.

In fact there is quite a bit that Veterans Affairs does to specifically recognize black Canadians who have served and continue to serve. As well, Canada Post issued a stamp in the last few years, also recognizing William Hall. Other government departments and organizations have also taken a role.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much for that.

For the last word, Mr. Storseth.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for coming today.

I understand you said there is a 98% uptake on the Canada Remembers.

[Derek Sullivan]

We had 1,463 responses to our evaluation from teachers, both those who had ordered and those who had chosen not to, and 98% of them said that it met their curriculum needs and the learning levels of their students.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Across the country, what was the distribution like? Were there more in the west? Did Ontario receive significant numbers? What about Quebec?

[Derek Sullivan]

There were significant numbers across the country. We were gratified last year with a very dramatic increase in the province of Quebec. It went up approximately 200%. I don't have the actual numbers with me. Of course, by far the largest number was in Ontario, simply as a function of the population of the province. But there is a pretty even distribution across the country. If you'd like, I can provide you afterward with the distribution.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

I would appreciate it if you could just table with the committee what the distribution numbers would be across the country.

I have to admit I very briefly went through it, and it seems like it's well done, but I don't see--for my daughter, who is a Facebook junkie--where there are any links to go to the DVA website for Facebook or any of those kinds of things so that you can follow up and continue to monitor or facilitate engagement with our youth at this point. It seems like a good first step, but I'd like to know where you are taking it from there.

[Derek Sullivan]

It's a good question in a couple of respects. Our website is listed on the bottom of it--www.veterans.gc.ca--but you're quite correct, there isn't a link directly to Facebook. Encouraging them to go directly to Facebook I don't think is in this year's. We may have done that last year. But I think you're right, it's something that we should have every year.

What we had tried to do this year in time for those learning materials, but we missed it by about a month in terms of getting all of the approvals and making sure we were doing it properly, was to add to the newspapers, particularly the Canada Remembers Times, but to all our products, what is called a quick response code, a QR code. It's rather like a bar code but it's more dots or splotches than anything else. Those can be scanned with a smart phone, and they take you directly to our website, to our Facebook pages, and things like that. We will have those for next year, for sure, but also I think you're absolutely right that we should be putting something, even a small advertisement or promotion, if you will, in the Canada Remembers Times to encourage the students to go to our Facebook page.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

The only other thing I would just quickly mention, and it's as much a question as anything, is I know one of the things that always interested me when I first started learning about this was the Victoria Cross recipients and the stories that go behind that. Perhaps there is some way to promote that on your Facebook, in here. There are unique stories and actions that Canadians have taken. There are things we can be very proud of as Canadians. It's just a way to better promote that within DVA itself.