Veterans Affairs Committee on March 25th, 2014

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

We're under way. I'd like to welcome everybody here and point out that we're continuing our review of the enhanced new Veterans Charter, looking for the various recommendations that will come out of the meetings that we have. We always welcome our witnesses here.

Before we do that, we have a little piece of business. Our member from the Liberal Party looks slightly different from a few weeks ago, and I'm going to ask—

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

He's better behaved, too.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Anyway, before we go down that road, could I ask the parliamentary secretary to please make a motion.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Chair, I also want to take this opportunity to welcome our colleague, and I'd like to nominate Mr. Valeriote for the second vice-chair position.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

We need a seconder, don't we? I keep wanting a seconder.

Anyway, so moved. Is the committee all in favour of the motion?

You can vote too, Frank.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

(Motion agreed to)

Welcome. It's good to have you here.

[Frank Valeriote, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Thank you. I'm proud to be here, actually, and I hope I'll serve the committee well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

I appreciate that.

I don't think there's any other business. We'll get under way.

I'm very pleased to have our witnesses join us today. Is there a fourth person?

[Dr. Alice Aiken, Director, Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research]

He's not in the hall. I'm not sure where he's gone.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Don't tell me he's another one that Peter Stoffer scared off this afternoon.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

We're going to start. What we do is we hear from our witnesses. We allow about 10 minutes per group. Then we go to questions around the table, and that's when we get into lively conversation.

We're going to start today with Wounded Warriors Canada. I welcome Phil Ralph, the national program director, and Chris Linford, national ambassador, who will be joining you momentarily.

From the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research, we have Alice Aiken, director. I think we've met before. It's nice to have you here.

We also have Mr. Ron Cundell. It's good to have you both here. We look forward to your comments.

[Ronald Cundell, Publisher, VeteranVoice.info]

I'm not with her. I'm with VeteranVoice.info.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

I'm sorry. VeteranVoice.info, yes.

She seems glad to have you sitting there, though. That's a good thing.

Yes, sorry about that. We have three presentations today.

That said, we'll turn first to Wounded Warriors, please, for a few minutes.

[Phil Ralph, National Program Director, Wounded Warriors Canada]

Mr. Chairman, and honourable members of the committee, on behalf of Wounded Warriors Canada, thank you for the invitation to appear before this committee and be part of the very important discussion on the statutory review of the enhanced new Veterans Charter.

By way of introduction, my name is Phil Ralph, and I serve as the national program director of Wounded Warriors Canada.

I am proud to be joined today by retired lieutenant-colonel and Wounded Warriors Canada national ambassador, Chris Linford, a distinguished serviceman who has served on a number of overseas operations, including the Persian Gulf, Rwanda, and Afghanistan.

For those unaware, Wounded Warriors Canada provides a wide range of programs offered nationally where gaps in the system have left our Canadian Armed Forces members wanting, be they regular force, reservists or retired, and most importantly, their families as well.

Over the last 16 months Wounded Warriors Canada has shifted its focus and become a national leader in funding national programs on mental health targeted specifically toward post-traumatic stress disorder. At this committee you've heard from witnesses of at least two groups that we proudly fund: Tim Laidler of the Veterans Transition Network, as well as Barry Yhard of VETS Canada. A little later on you'll be hearing from Alice Aiken about a Ph.D. scholarship program that we sponsor as well.

Through the administration of a diverse slate of programs and services, we have heard the personal stories and struggles of literally thousands of servicemen and women and their families. In 2014 we have committed $1.1 million directly to our programs. As part of this, and through our own personal experiences of both Chris and me in the Canadian Forces, we are here today to provide you with a grassroots feedback on key items and themes identified by this committee as part of this important review.

On August 13 of last year, the Minister of Veterans Affairs publicly stated:

Our Government continues to demonstrate its strong commitment to caring for, supporting and honouring Canada’s Veterans and their families.

Later in that same statement he continued:

Just as importantly, this new spending is built upon the fundamental principles of respect and support for Veterans. That foundation of respect is spelled out in the New Veterans Charter, and the Prime Minister of Canada reinforced it when he announced the New Charter’s implementation as the first step toward according Canadian Veterans the dignity and support they deserve.

We simply ask that the committee and all parliamentarians put legs to the words of the Prime Minister.

If the charter and its subsequent changes are the first step, in the Prime Minister's own words, it is clear from the overwhelming and growing support that Wounded Warriors Canada continues to receive that Canadians care deeply about the welfare and care of our veterans and their families.

Canadians are particularly concerned about those who are most vulnerable, and saddened and galvanized by the recent losses of our veterans from suicide.

We fully understand the range of recommendations and issues raised to date at this committee. In particular, we applaud the fine work of the ombudsman to date on these issues.

As such, it is our intention today to frame the overall discussion for you succinctly around the need for early intervention when it comes to health and financial wellness of our ill and injured Canadian Armed Forces members and their families.

On care and support to seriously injured veterans, there is no question that Canadians want the care afforded to Canada's veterans not only to be adequate, but they also want it to be excellent. This has been demonstrated by the ongoing and profound communication that we receive regarding the funding of the programs that Wounded Warriors Canada provides and will continue to provide.

Canadians are particularly concerned that the most vulnerable among our veterans are destined to years of poverty and struggle as the result of the injuries they have received as a direct result of their service to Canada.

Canadians expect better. Without getting into all the nuts and bolts of delivery, etc., we know there are three important areas where action is required: one, commitment to the long-term financial health of our veterans and their families, particularly those most seriously disabled; two, equity in providing benefits based on injury not class of service; and three, streamlined cooperation between the Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada in order to provide timely provision of the required services.

On support for the families, we have discovered that the provision of excellent care to the injured veteran is not sufficient.

To truly battle PTSD, a holistic approach must be adopted that includes the veteran's family. He or she will not receive true help if the veteran's most important relationships and their primary support systems are not managed well.

With regard to improvements to the way in which the Department of Veterans Affairs delivers programs, services, and benefits set out in the Veterans Charter, we suggest that ongoing assessments be carried out assessing veterans themselves to gather information that will seek to improve the programs offered, gain understanding of the new programs needed, and streamline the process, thus diminishing the stress that often is induced through the application process.

There clearly needs to be a push system rather than the current pull system, which includes early identification of the needs of particularly those who are heading towards medical release and the issues facing veterans as they transition to life after military service. The oft-worn phrase that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure comes readily to mind.

Announced initiatives such as veterans priority hiring for public service jobs are of little help if the veteran is not equipped with the skills requisite for the position. This is all the more true for those transitioning to the private sector.

In closing, we thank the committee for this invitation. We remain at your disposal should the committee have further questions now or at any time going forward.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much, Mr. Ralph.

We'll now go to Ms. Aiken, please.

[Dr. Alice Aiken]

Good afternoon, honourable Chairman, members of the committee, and thank you very much for the opportunity to present to you today.

I'm Dr. Alice Aiken, director of the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research. I'm also a university professor at Queen's University. Most importantly, however, I'm a veteran, having served 14 years in the Royal Canadian Navy, so what we're talking about is very near and dear to my heart.

I'm sure many of you know that I was the author of the original critical report of the new Veterans Charter just on the financial benefits as they pertain to seriously disabled veterans. I'm well aware that changes have been made since then, but I'm sure that's why I'm at your table.

I'd like the opportunity to tell you a little bit about our institute and what we do.

The Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research is an innovative organization that serves as a base for all Canadian stakeholders interested in military and veteran health research, and provides channels between the academic community, government organizations, industry, caring Canadians, and similar international organizations. Our mission is to enhance the lives of Canadian military personnel, veterans, and their families by mobilizing the national capacity for high-impact research.

The research done under the auspices of CIMVHR focuses on outcomes that will rapidly translate into treatments, programs, and policies. In addition to focusing on prevention treatment and rehabilitation, the research is able to rapidly respond to emerging needs for this group of heroes and to have relevance for the Canadian population as a whole. We also work diligently with all stakeholders to ensure that new programs and treatments that are cropping up for the treatment of veterans have the appropriate research built in so that we can ensure they're doing what they say they're doing.

CIMVHR is focused on ensuring that Canada's best researchers are engaged in these projects, which are fully coordinated with national and international agencies to ensure that they complement, not duplicate, existing research activities. We are continuously finding ways to collaborate. One example is through our annual national research forum. To date, we've hosted four such forums. We've engaged over 1,700 researchers and stakeholders, had over 400 scientific presentations, engaged 10 different countries, and we continue to grow.

The research presented has focused on significant aspects of mental health, operational and environmental health protection, rehabilitation, both physical and mental, combat casualty care, transition from military to civilian life, family health and well-being, and most importantly for this committee, health care policies and programs.

We've published three volumes of research and are in the process of starting a new journal of military, veteran, and family health. We expect to launch this online open access journal in January 2015, and anticipate that this will continue the unprecedented growth in military and veteran health research that we've built in Canada. We have a very comprehensive website. We're also on Facebook and Twitter, if any of you are tweeting right now.

In addition to this, and in order to ensure our sustainability, we're building a pan-Canadian graduate program in military and veteran health research. Through the Royal Military College and Queen's, we've offered a very successful webinar graduate course over the last two years. This coming September when we offer it for the third time, one of our partner universities will also offer a course focused on family health.

We've brokered donations of $400,000 from Wounded Warriors Canada so that we will have a new doctoral scholar in military and veteran health research, with a focus on mental health every year for the next 10 years. We have a standing offer from the Royal Canadian Legion for a master's scholarship. We continue to build the next generation of researchers in this very important area.

My own doctorate is in health policy, so I would ask that any discussions about revisions to the new Veterans Charter be focused and based on evidence. We're most certainly here to help with that.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much, Dr. Aiken, I see you've stayed busy since we last saw you.

[Dr. Alice Aiken]

Yes, we are now 31 universities and over 800 researchers, so we're pretty proud of that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

I look forward to the questions and answers. Thank you.

Mr. Cundell, please, you have 10 minutes.

[Ronald Cundell]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

VeteranVoice.info is glad to be here and appreciates the invitation. I'll give a quick description of VeteranVoice, or as it is more commonly known, VVi. VVi is an open website that acts as an Internet portal for veterans to read the latest news, information, and benefits that involve veterans. This also includes our RCMP veterans.

VVi's virtual community has a membership of 100,000. VVi also has a Canadian soldiers assistance team forum, or CSAT. This is also an open forum to encourage veterans, RCMP, and currently serving military members to help each other. Be it a problem with a VAC benefit or the daily grind of trying to handle life, it's veterans helping veterans and helping soldiers. I encourage the committee to visit VVi and the CSAT forum to read and understand what veterans are currently going through.

VVi also has a database of veteran information going back 10 years for academics, politicians, veterans, and reporters to use. Three veterans operate VVi: Major (Retired) C.J. Wallace, is the webmaster and the founder of VVi; Captain (Retired) Perry Gray is the chief editor; and my duties are publisher and CSAT forum master. I retired as a sergeant.

I encourage this committee to visit VVi. As already stated in the last four or five meetings, VVi agrees that it's time for this committee to finally write the report to Parliament. By holding these never-ending testimonies, trying to find the magic potion to cure all that ails the new Veterans Charter, you are inadvertently not showing any respect to the veteran community. Instead, you look as if you are procrastinating by not doing your work in a timely manner.

To show the veterans you are not procrastinating, you can start to complete your report by seriously looking at the two reports and two reviews from the office of the Veterans Ombudsman. As you know, one of these reports is an actuarial, which for some reason no one in Parliament is mentioning.

Over the last three decades, I have watched the wheels of government grind along, and an actuarial that is not mentioned at all by the government is an actuarial that is above refute by being purposely ignored. This actuarial shows the shortfall in the new Veterans Charter, that there is no financial security for the injured and most severely injured veteran post-65. It also proves that right now veterans will be living below the poverty line when they reach 65 years of age.

What other glaringly embarrassing fact is this committee looking for to start the report to Parliament?

The office of the Veterans Ombudsman was created on November 11, 2007. Its mandate was to make sure veterans programs, benefits, and vocational rehab are fulfilling the needs of veterans in a non-partisan manner. Many reports and reviews have been written and presented by the Veterans Ombudsman to the standing committees over the last seven years. Over those seven years, ombudsman's reports and reviews were never publicly accepted or supported by veteran organizations.

The current two reviews and two reports you have in your possession now are approved, supported, and documented with the VAC minister by veteran organizations. To help you understand the impact of what veteran organizations mean, it means a large majority of the veteran population in Canada is currently on the same page, and we are telling you, enough with the meetings, studies, and reviews; write the damn report already. That will motivate parliamentarians to improve veterans' lives now.

These veteran organizations are also telling Parliament for the first time that you created a Veteran Ombudsman, he has done his job. We veterans approve and support what he has done, so take the non-partisan recommendation seriously and act accordingly on said recommendations.

In my own opinion, if your report motivates all parliamentarians to act in a non-partisan manner like they did when they passed the new Veterans Charter back in 2005 to improve the financial security for disabled veterans, it will take care of a large number of other recommendations you have received in the past. This will allow your next round of standing committee meetings to be more focused and effective on a reduced amount of recommendations to improve the new Veterans Charter, such as, how do we hire veterans and train them to help soldiers transition to civilian life or deal with their life-altering injuries while dealing with Veterans Affairs.

These possible veteran employees of VAC can act as a buffer between VAC and the client by helping with applications, benefits, and how spouses and children can get help to ease their stress. It has been proven over the last few years that helping a veteran is more effective than throwing the veteran knee-deep into VAC's applications and rules and into dealing with the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. We know how to approach, help, and listen to that soldier, sailor, or airman who is facing the biggest change in their life.

To sum it up, it is time to move forward and leave the flaws and mistakes in the creation and implementation of the new Veterans Charter where they belong: in the past. You now have a great opportunity to move forward and improve the new Veterans Charter, as you have the approval from the majority of the veteran community in Canada to write your report to Parliament using the two reviews and two reports submitted by our Veterans Ombudsman, therefore proving that the new Veterans Charter is, as promised when passed in 2005, a living charter.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you, Mr. Cundell.

We will begin the round of questioning from members. We'll start with Mr. Stoffer, please.

You have six minutes.

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

To all presenters, thank you very, very much for coming today to help us in our review.

First, our colleague, Mr. Laurie Hawn, announced the other day that he won't be running again. I want to thank him from our side for the great work he's done for his constituents and all of Parliament. Well done.

To Frank Valeriote, welcome, sir, to our committee. We look forward to working with you in this regard and, as Mr. Cundell has said, in a non-partisan manner, to move this issue forward.

I have one question for each of the presenters.

I'll start with Wounded Warriors. The other day you folks did a marvellous thing by giving $40,000 to a fairly new organization called VETS Canada, a veterans emergency transition service headed by Jim Lowther and his wife and others across the country. This is to help veterans who become homeless. I'm wondering if you can explain briefly why that was done. Also, what more do you think will be done in order to help those veterans who unfortunately find themselves homeless? That's my question for you.

Alice, you stated that you needed a report that was based on evidence. Well, sometimes that evidence can change with new things happening down the road. I'm thinking of depleted uranium and possible exposure and of the chemical spraying at Gagetown, for example. Did Agent Orange cause a problem or didn't it? Initially it was thought that it didn't, but then, years later, with evidence, it was proved that it did. If you're trying to give benefits to someone based on a presumption of a chemical exposure and there's no hardcore evidence yet, there's a good chance the veteran may be denied in that regard. That's my question.

Mr. Cundell, here's my question for you, sir. Some of these benefits in the charter, as you so rightly stated, end at age 65. I can't put words in your mouth, but I assume you want these benefits to expire when the individual passes away, not at age 65. That would be my question for you. Thank you.

Thanks to all of you for coming.

[Phil Ralph]

Thank you for your question.

Yes, we were pleased to fund VETS Canada last week and announce in a public forum a $40,000 donation. The reason we chose VETS Canada is that VETS Canada meets with our condition as a charity that the benefits in the programs we offer have to be available from coast to coast. It doesn't matter where the veteran resides, in what province they live, be they regular force, be they reservists, or be they retired. We want the same level of service right across the country.

We received an application from VETS Canada to get their program in every city. The wonderful thing about VETS Canada is that they don't provide all the programs but they implement and they become the bridge for the veteran who's on the street to local programs that are accessed in the communities in which the veteran lives. As an organization we look at our mandate as filling gaps. We see gaps from here to here, and there's a great range.

Of course, when you get down to the street and you're homeless, you've gone all the way down. VETS Canada is the mechanism to bring that person back in from the cold, as it were, to get them back into a place where they have a roof over their head so they can begin their transition back to being productive Canadians and being honoured for their service.

That's why, as with all our programs, we look for organizations that provide first-class service, that can provide innovative service, and that are able to produce services and replicate them from coast to coast. We don't want to be a regional service. We are a national program so that veterans are treated the same from coast to coast. That's why we were pleased to announced our funding to VETS Canada.