Veterans Affairs Committee on March 8th, 2016

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

Thank you.

I also wondered about the families of veterans. They must approach you. Is it a significant number? Do you have a sense of that?

Also, would there be a significant number of contacts by RCMP veterans?

[Guy Parent]

That's a good question. We sometimes forget about the veterans of the RCMP and don't put enough emphasis on families.

Of course, we do get some complaints. I think the frustration of the family members is in part the fact that in a lot of cases they don't have access to programs in their own right. It always comes down to the veteran's status and that creates a problem in some cases.

A good example is access to an OSI clinic for mental health for family members dealing with mental health. There is no access right now unless there is a therapy that includes their spouse, but not for them in their own right.

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

I would think the successful treatment of a veteran would also mean helping that family because it's a unit. The good health of one is the good health of the other.

[Guy Parent]

Yes, that's a good point. Military people transition with their families. They don't transition alone. In fact, they serve with their families too. I think that's important because they are subjected to the same pressures.

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

Would you say that, of those 5,000 calls per year, a significant number are resolved? What's your definition of a resolution to a case?

[Guy Parent]

Again, that's a good question, but it's a matter of perspective, I think. We advocate for fairness. We don't advocate for the veteran or Veterans Affairs Canada. We're an advocate for fairness.

Some complaints are legitimate. Some are not. We have to accept that. We have to tell people that sometimes there are reasonable expectations, and then there are other expectations. We have to draw the line sometimes and say, “Yes, you have been treated fairly. You might not be happy with it, but you have been treated fairly.”

In a lot of those cases though, by keeping an eye on those complaints, we can identify systemic issues even if we don't resolve a particular case.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

Time goes fast.

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

When you have such a gracious witness, it does go fast. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

Great.

Ms. Romanado.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Parent.

As well as thanking you for being here, I would like to thank you for your service to our country. As the mother of two serving members, I am pleased to be here today.

I want to talk a little bit about your report. We talk a lot about outcomes, and I'm delighted that we are going to be addressing financial security, health care, and so on.

I just want to premise my question. You touched on it. When someone decides to serve their country it is with incredible pride that they wear the uniform. The decision to leave active service, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, is a life-changing experience, as it would be with anyone who loses a job. I love the idea of a guichet unique for our Canadian Forces members and veterans.

We talked a little bit about documentation that's not getting shared between services, and so on. We all know that in the military you have to write a briefing memo for every briefing memo, so the idea of this information not being shared is a little disturbing.

One thing that's not apparent in your presentation and your speech today is the how.

I'll elaborate. Maya Angelou's famous quote is that people will forget what you said, they'll forget what you do, but they'll never forget how you made them feel. We've heard the horror stories through social media and by talking to vets of how they were made to feel, jumping through hoops to prove disability. When someone has lost their legs, they are not growing back.

I have not seen any recommendations in terms of training for those who are front-line workers, or folks who are working, in terms of service delivery. I'd like to know if you could elaborate a little bit on that.

[Guy Parent]

Thank you.

It's a good point. I have to start by saying that the front-line people have the wellness of the veterans and their families at heart, but sometimes they're bogged down in processes as well, in complex laws, regulations, and processes. I think that's important. Care, compassion, and respect have to be there right from the start when a veteran applies for benefits and until he receives the service.

As for the “how”, I've mentioned a few ideas about how to shape tomorrow and what we need to look at. I think the how should come from the testimonies that you're going to get in front of this committee, with different ideas from different people. Certainly, it has to be veteran-centric. I think that's the important piece of this puzzle.

People have different needs. Some have families and some don't. Some are older and some are younger. Some will be 65 and won't have any benefits. A lot of these things need to be.... It can't be just any veteran. It has to be veteran-centric based on the evolving needs of that particular veteran and his family. I think that's the way we have to go.

In the future, it's one of those things where the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be proactive so the veteran doesn't have to be, and so he doesn't have to navigate the complexities of the system if everything is there, in clear terms, when he transitions from the forces.

I agree with what you said. It's quite a transition. It's a change of life. The military is a profession, not a job. It's the same as a doctor or a dentist not being able to carry on with his trade because of an injury. It's a lifestyle change.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

In terms of the transition to a civilian life, I'm not sure if this is an appropriate question for the ombudsman, but have you looked at partnering with provinces in terms of what we call in the rest of Canada “prior learning assessment and recognition”, or in Quebec, the reconnaissance des acquis et compétences?

It's in terms of recognizing skills that have been obtained through service or formal education so that our veterans are not required to go back to school and get retrained on things they already know and the competencies they already have, and so they would be able to get transitioned more quickly into civilian workplaces. I'm curious to know if that's something that you've looked at.

[Guy Parent]

We have in fact looked at it through the lens of the transition review that we're doing right now. Again, the vocational programs that we have are ambiguous right now, because there are two of them. There's one provided by the insurance company on the DND side and one provided by VAC. One is a program that builds up existing skills, and the other one has a bit more freedom of choice.

These things are very important. There are, within that system of vocational rehabilitation, a lot of third party people who help with that, but again, right now we're just in the process of studying the aspects of that vocational rehabilitation program. But that needs to happen, with some coordination of who can help and how different levels of government can assist each other.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you. Is there any opportunity to have an external audit of Veterans Affairs?

[Guy Parent]

Of the...?

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

It's in terms of creating your guichet unique and bringing in an internal auditor to assess the current situation.

[Guy Parent]

I think that would be a good question for the deputy minister when he comes and presents to you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

We'll save that one for later. Thank you.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

That's the end of round one. We will start round two with Mr. Eyolfson.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Thank you.

That was a very good and comprehensive presentation. As was said before, thank you for your service.

We've talked about all the services that are needed. Do you think the hiring of additional staff and caseworkers at Veterans Affairs would improve the quality of service that veterans receive?

[Guy Parent]

That's a loaded question. In fact, on more staff, I think it's more a question of the right people in the right places and not just more staff in number. I think that in a lot of cases Veterans Affairs Canada needs to look at what it is that case managers do and what it is that is needed.

Again, I ask the question, what are the needs and what are the problems that need to be solved within the administration? One of them is navigating the process. It might be useful to have some people who are new hires and are actually benefits navigators who can help people navigate the process of transition, not necessarily new case managers. I think the answer to this would be that whenever you hire people, you have to look at where they're needed and what skills are needed, not necessarily based on an old structure but on the needs of the future.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Thank you. There was some talk earlier about mental health. Can you comment on whether there is room for improvement in the availability of mental health services?

[Guy Parent]

There is a mental health strategy within Veterans Affairs Canada, and it's evolving as we speak. There is access, as I said before.

In fact, to link to a comment made by the lady who spoke, one of the biggest problems is that some of the military folks are too proud, and that even includes some of the family members as well. They're just too proud to come out and say they have a problem. Fortunately, within the forces, the stigma has changed a little bit. People are more open, but I don't think that has transcended to the young veterans population.

There are a lot more people coming out and the services are available, but again, you have to know what is available and that's always a matter of communication from Veterans Affairs Canada. A new program for caregivers that was just installed on the Veterans Affairs Canada website might be useful to them in future.