Veterans Affairs Committee on March 20th, 2018

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

Do we know what those are right now?

[RAdm Elizabeth Stuart]

I'm not at liberty. We're still deliberating with the Treasury Board Secretariat. I can't speak to those at this time.

[Bernard Butler]

Mr. Chair, if I can add to that to clarify, for pension for life program, there are three basic components now. The first is the pain-and-suffering award. That is non-taxable. It's a tax-free benefit. The second component is the additional pain-and-suffering award for the most seriously disabled veterans. That is non-taxable. The third element is the new income replacement benefit, which is an economic benefit. It will be taxable.

I think in order to have your question answered, we would have to look at that, and we would have to break down those elements to better understand or better clarify what you're seeking.

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

Thank you very much.

With regard to the military family resource centres, are they available to vets who are not medically released or is that strictly a program for vets who are medically released?

[Bernard Butler]

The military family resource centres, the new program that will roll out, will be available to medically releasing members and their families. That's who it is targeted at.

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

There are veterans who are not medically released but who later might develop either physical or mental health problems that manifest themselves well after non-medical release and are attributed to service. Would this be available to these veterans and their families as well?

[Michel Doiron]

Yes. They're medically releasing, but at this point if they have a condition with us, they will.

The MFRCs are not for profit. We're providing them money. They've been very clear to us that they don't plan on turning anybody away. We were quite clear that they're for medically releasing members. When I met with this group, they were a little different everywhere. If you've never visited them, you should if you have one in your riding. They're a little different everywhere you go. They've been very clear to us that they're there to help veterans and their families. They will support veterans and their families. I'll give them a little pitch here because I know we've talked about medically releasing veterans, but they say that if someone shows up at the door, they'll help.

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

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

Ms. Lambropoulos, you have six minutes.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

I've been hearing for a long time—and you even just mentioned it—that it's mostly the case that veterans will not be turned away if they ask for support. Let's say they need something in a specific area and the finances for that have reached maximum capacity. Would they be turned away at that point, or would other ways be found to support these veterans?

[Michel Doiron]

The MFRC would find a way, or they would contact us to see if we could help them. They do that on occasion, and we help if we can. They've been quite clear that they're there to help veterans' families. Let's not forget that most bases or areas where these are situated also have non-public funds that the military will help with. We fund the MFRC some money, but the military is funding also. They're quite innovative in getting some money. They're there to help.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Okay. Thank you.

Can you also talk about other service delivery improvements that are going to be implemented at this point, going forward in the new budget? I know we've already improved quite a bit in the last couple of years. I'd like to see what the differences are, specifically for budget 2018.

[Michel Doiron]

Well, there are seven mandate letter items that are coming on board on April 1, 2018. The career transition services and the education benefit are ones we've talked a lot about here, where they're going to be online.

Let's just talk about CTS, where a veteran will be able to work with an adviser and get help getting employment somewhere. We're working on that. That's going to be very innovative in the way we're doing it, and it's going to link with education.

Beyond that, you've all heard about the seven things we're bringing in, but we're also doing a lot of work on the operational side. We're trying to remove as many barriers as possible on the adjudication side. It's still a complex program, but we're trying to facilitate that. We're trying to eliminate some of that.

We're working with our friends at CAF, our partners, on transition, on medical health records. How can we ensure we get the health records in a timely fashion? That's all stuff to improve the services to our veterans. Some stuff can be done quickly. Some stuff will not be done quickly. There are privacy issues with health records. We're now working through that, but there's a real openness with our colleagues at CAF now to actually do this electronically.

I mean, I could go on, but I know time is limited so I'll be quiet.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you very much for your answer.

Lastly, what have we done to improve the service for veterans who find themselves in remote or rural areas? Has there been any improvement recently?

[Michel Doiron]

Yes. We are now going to the three territories on a rotational basis. That has been, actually, quite successful. We weren't sure what the demand would be. The numbers don't sound like much, maybe 14 in Iqaluit who now have case management, but the reality is that there are 14 getting help now.

We're now exploring a second tier to this, doing northern Quebec and northern Labrador. As you look at the territories, they're also up there. How can we serve those communities?

We have to remember that we have Rangers who actually work up north and are entitled to some of our programming. It's a bit touchy, what they're entitled to and not entitled to, but they are entitled. On a monthly basis, I have a team that goes up to Whitehorse, Yellowknife, or Iqaluit—they alternate. It's actually been going quite well. We have a lot of people. We work with the Legion's service in Canada, and they publicize it. When we arrive the appointments are made, but we still take walk-ins. Actually, the numbers are higher than we anticipated. They're not off the charts, but they're higher than we anticipated.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Do I have time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

Yes, you have about two minutes.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

You had mentioned before that CAF has been more open to working with VAC in order to improve service and the transfer of files or information. Can you explain to us a little bit how and why that change has come about?

[Michel Doiron]

You would have to ask the CAF, but I think it's just an understanding of where the delays are occurring. They want to make sure their members and their people are getting it. I also think we're doing a lot of work in transition. I know you've had General Misener here, and I have been spending a lot of time with General Misener to better understand the transition, because VAC transition often starts when you have your permanent category.

However, there's a whole process before that. That's the part we're learning a lot more about, and we're going to be collaborating in that realm. That's where things like the health records are coming up. Regarding diagnosis from doctors on the VAC side and CAF side, often they say “sore foot”, but they don't give a diagnosis. When it comes to our place, we can't give you a disability award based on a sore foot. We need to know what that is. We're working with the surgeon general to make sure that the doctors write a diagnosis. With a diagnosis, I can now give you a disability award. Without a diagnosis, it's a sore foot. We have to remember it's a disability award. It has to be permanent. We're working much closer together now to line that up.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Neil Ellis]

Thank you.

Ms. Wagantall, you have six minutes.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Doiron, we had a conversation the last time around about the advertising funds of $2 million. I know you're a busy guy. It's split between commemoration and mental health. Then we went on to have a conversation about how much was for mental health, and how much was for commemoration. You were going to get that number to us. It was in response to my concerns about the mefloquine issue, the diagnosis of that, and alerting our veterans that it may be a causal scenario for them.

In looking back in our records, I don't believe we've received that.

[RAdm Elizabeth Stuart]

I am aware that the department did provide a response, and I will read this. It is in response to a question. I agreed to provide the committee with the amount of new advertising funds devoted to mental health:

VAC currently plans to spend $100,000 in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 on advertising mental health services.... VAC also plans to profile mental health during general services advertising campaigns over the next three years.

We have a healthy outreach renewal initiative surrounding communications and we use a number of media means.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Could you send that to our new clerk just so we have it on record?

[RAdm Elizabeth Stuart]

Yes, thank you.