Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 7th, 2013

[Charlotte Bastien]

As far as I know, those documents that were destroyed were not the types of documents that would be used to process applications for benefits.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

What I take from this, Mr. Chair, is that the witness is not 100% sure that the records destroyed would not affect any veterans. She's unsure if some veterans are being affected by the destruction of those documents.

Am I correct?

[Charlotte Bastien]

I will go and verify, and get back.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

How much longer do I have?

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

You have 15 seconds.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

How many veterans are affected by the closing of the VAC centres? How much money are we thinking we're going to save? How much money do we know we're going to spend for these face-to-face meetings with the case officers having to go to the veterans' homes in order to look after them, because someone who is in Thunder Bay—

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

That signals three questions, and you have zero seconds, so it had better be quick.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

She can supply a written answer.

What I'm looking for is the following. What are the cost savings? What is the cost to service the veterans should the case officers need to drive in order to provide the same care that they're getting right now face to face?

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Thank you, Mr. Karygiannis.

The next speaker is Mr. Chisu.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

To the witnesses, thank you very much for your presentation and for being here today.

I would like to ask you a question about the disability pension. How long does a member need to serve to have a disability pension? Perhaps you can clarify this one. I was a serving member. I was not injured, and I know that I can get a pension after two years of service. What is the difference in how you are qualifying these disability pensions? Is the time of 10 years' service, which I heard, correct or not?

[Janice Burke]

Thank you for your question. Very quickly, the disability pension that is administered by Veterans Affairs Canada is provided to either serving members or veterans when they release for disabilities that are related to service. Veterans can apply at any point in time. In fact, we have veterans applying sometimes 40 or 50 years later. There's no time limit in terms of the length of time that you served. All you need to demonstrate is that there's a link between your disability and your military service.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you very much for that answer.

Regarding the commemorations, you are issuing the Memorial Cross, right?

[André Levesque]

Yes.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Do you also issue the Memorial Ribbons? For example, if someone from a family has three or four descendants, I think they have a right to three Silver Crosses or three memorial medals and two ribbons, or something like that.

[André Levesque]

First of all, the Memorial Cross regulations were, as you know, amended to allow the member of the Canadian Forces to select up to three recipients of his or her choice, whoever they want, so you're correct on that.

The Memorial Ribbon was recently created last year for the families of the deceased. Typically, they would be allowed to have three ribbons, but should the family need additional ribbons, they would be provided to the family. All they have to do is apply to the Canadian Forces which administers the program on behalf of the government. We would be happy to present them to the families and make them available to them.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Thank you very much. I have another question.

Our government, as you know, has implemented a new partnership with Service Canada, which provides more than 600 points of service across the country where veterans and their families can obtain general information regarding Veterans Affairs Canada programs and services.

Could you elaborate on the training Service Canada employees are receiving in order to support the veterans? When you are compensating services, you need to have training because Service Canada is a little bit larger, but the veterans have certain needs. How are you balancing this situation to be able to serve the veterans better?

[Charlotte Bastien]

Training was provided starting in September and October 2012 to Service Canada employees, on the basic programs and services and on being able to respond to general inquiries regarding Veterans Affairs Canada programs and services. They were also provided with training on being able to assist with filling out certain applications for Veterans Affairs benefits.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

Perhaps I could ask for a point of clarification. This won't interrupt your time, Mr. Chisu.

Are the Silver Cross ribbons delivered to them by the Department of National Defence or by the Department of Veterans Affairs?

[André Levesque]

The Memorial Ribbon is administered by the Department of National Defence and is sent directly to the family member who requests the ribbon. It's basically sent to them right from the department.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

Thank you, sir.

You still have a minute and a half, Mr. Chisu.

[Corneliu Chisu, Conservative, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

As a point of clarification, I think—

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Mr. Karygiannis.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

On a point of order, can we clarify, please, whether or not our proceedings right now are being heard in public? Can we take a minute to make sure that this has been done?

I understand from people who are trying to tune in to our committee that this has not been done. Perhaps we could take a minute to verify that this is what is happening. Our offices, including my office, are trying to tune in, as are other people, and I'm being advised that they are not able to tune in. Could you please clarify that?

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

We will suspend in order to accommodate that request.

The clock has been stopped.