Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 28th, 2012

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

So it's quite a significant amount that's getting out to help veterans stay in their homes a little bit longer.

[Charlotte Stewart]

Yes.

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

Certainly, for the people watching this, it's helpful to know the dollar amount that's going to the people who have served our country well.

A couple of years ago, there was quite a debate on the disability award. I believe it's indexed, and the maximum amount is around $270,000. The idea was that veterans would be able to take incremental amounts instead of the lump sum. You may not have these numbers with you today, but could you give the committee an idea of how many veterans have decided to take the disability award in incremental amounts? Is this something that has has been popular with veterans?

[Mary Chaput]

The maximum disability award is at $293,000 at this stage of the game, and it's indexed, so it'll be a greater amount next year. In respect of the options veterans were provided, you're quite right. They were entitled to take a lump sum or to take a portion in a lump and the balance in installments. Moreover, they were allowed to change their mind along the way.

Precise statistics are hard to come up with in terms of how many chose what, but we know that there has been a dip in the expenditures related to the disability award, which reflects the fact that some have chosen the extended or more protracted payment process. The dip is in the order of $85 million.

Is that correct, Charlotte?

[Charlotte Stewart]

That's correct.

[Mary Chaput]

That's a substantial number of people choosing to do it in one of a number of ways.

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

I see there is a bit of a grey area there where they are going to take the lump or change their minds. Is there any way that you could give us a percentage? Is it 20% who are now taking it over a number of different payments? Or is that something that you don't have at your fingertips?

[Mary Chaput]

I don't have it with me today. I'm sure we have those statistics. We'd be happy to get that for you.

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

I'm sure the committee would be interested, just to see if that change has made a difference and is being used.

[Charlotte Stewart]

Could I just add one more comment on that one too? The number electing to defer is fairly small; we will get the exact number. But what we do see is that they're taking advantage of the opportunity to get financial counselling, so for some of that lag, while they may eventually opt to get the lump sum, they're taking their time, they're getting advice, and they're making an informed decision. I think that was also one of the outcomes we were looking for when we put this change in place.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much.

We will now go to Mr. Stoffer, please, for four minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

First of all, Madam Chaput, congratulations on your new position, I wish you the very best. If you see Suzanne Tining, thank her on our behalf. She did a good job.

[Mary Chaput]

We will.

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

Also, thanks to the DVA for the efforts on the animals in motion tour and the monument with Lloyd Swick.

As well, a couple of requests have been put to the minister in regard to the national cenotaph and trying to put an inclusive phrase on the cenotaph, which is supported by all veterans organizations: “In the service of Canada”. Unfortunately, it wasn't done for this Remembrance Day, but we're hoping that for next time, “In the service of Canada” will be inscribed on our national cenotaph, making it more inclusive to all those who have served in the Boer War, for example, not just in World War II, World War I, Korea, and others.

Also, we're looking for a statuette on the Valiants Memorial for William Hall from Nova Scotia, Canada's first black person to receive the Victoria Cross. You have received correspondence from Senator Meredith, Senator Oliver, me, and others regarding that. If it's possible....

You talked about the earnings loss benefit that has now ceased, as the minister has gone beyond the court case. There is another deduction that's happening that affects many veterans: the Canada pension disability clawback. For members of the military or the RCMP who are medically released, they find themselves on Canada pension disability, but that money is deducted dollar for dollar from their superannuation, much earlier than age 65. They have been asking for many years to have a stop put to this. I was wondering if, at a later time, you could give a written answer to that particular request.

Also, Harold Leduc wrote a response to us regarding the VRAB. We're hoping that the minister will have an opportunity after reading the evidence to respond to his concerns from a ministerial level.

As well, could you advise us in a written response of what the government is doing on homeless veterans?

There are so many other things here, but another one, of course, is that the government announced, through Minister Blaney, an audit on the Sunnybrook concerns, due to all the media reports last week on the Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto. I've just toured the facility and met with all the families. I get two completely different stories. I was hoping that the audit.... Would that be a public audit? Would families of the veterans who are in the hospital be allowed to participate in that audit? Would that be a public audit where we—members of the opposition or government—would have an opportunity to see that audit before it's tabled?

Thank you very much for coming today.

You don't have to respond in kind, but at a later date, if possible.

[Mary Chaput]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

A short response is fine.

[Mary Chaput]

Yes, certainly. I will work from back to front.

In terms of Sunnybrook, the audit is just up and off the ground. A group of staff will look into that and create a report. I expect that it will involve consultation with management of the facility as well as the families. We'd be happy to get back to you as to the next steps in that regard.

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

Okay.

[Mary Chaput]

A number of efforts are under way concerning homelessness. The department itself runs a number of homelessness initiatives. Some of these we run personally and some we do in concert with HRSDC. Basically, they involve staff fanning out to Canada's biggest cities, where homelessness is a fact of life, sadly.

Last week, as I said, I was talking to the U.S. quite extensively. They were commenting that homelessness in their context is a very pervasive problem. Our estimate is that the number of homeless veterans in Canada is likely lower than 250. This doesn't mean that 250 is a good number; actually, it's the reason we want to get out into the streets with the case managers and case workers, to identify these veterans and see what we can do about helping them out.

The last thing I would say on homelessness is that there's new research—again, this was discussed last week—indicating that whereas to this point in time it had been understood that mental health was typically one of the most prevalent causes of homelessness, in fact newer research is indicating that addictions are one of the biggest, if not the biggest, cause. This may cause a bit of a change in programming around how one attacks homelessness.

That's all I would like to offer at this point in time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

I want to thank you both very much for that information. If there's anything written that you want to send along as well, that's fine.

[Mary Chaput]

Sure.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

We'll go to our final questioner, who will be Mr. Zimmer, please, for four minutes.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Thanks for coming, Ms. Chaput and Ms. Stewart.

I want to say that with a minister who cares so much about veterans, it's obvious when he speaks that he does care, and it's nice to hear this from you as well. I think it's important that we have staff who really take it to heart, especially with veterans.

I want to know the answer to a simple question. How many VAC officials work at your office in P.E.I.?

[Mary Chaput]

In Prince Edward Island on any given day there are about 1,200 staff.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

As a follow-up to that, is there any other province in which there are more VAC staff than the number who work in P.E.I.?