Veterans Affairs Committee on May 8th, 2018

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Would most of them be from WW II and Korea, or would there be some from Afghanistan, Bosnia, or other...?

[Grand Chief Steven Ross]

They're mostly from peacekeeping duties. We have three veterans of World War II, in their eighties.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

I can't remember if I asked you when I saw you last. When were you in Cypress?

[Grand Chief Steven Ross]

It was 1967.

[Robert Gordon Kitchen, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Okay, that was the same time my father was there. I think we did talk about that.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

Thank you.

We've moving on to Madam Lambropoulos.

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

Thank you for being with us today to answer our questions.

My first question is for Chief Ross.

I know you mentioned that the programs available right now are through VAC, Veterans Affairs Canada, and they're not culturally relative programs. Can you give us some examples of programs you would suggest? What do you think can help indigenous veterans get back on their feet? What are specific programs you think VAC can create that are more culturally relative?

[Grand Chief Steven Ross]

I think there are a lot of things that can happen, but the problem is where the veterans need to go for assistance. Where do they go now to apply for assistance? That seems to be the problem right now.

Veterans Affairs reopened a couple of offices in Saskatchewan, I think, and we're not quite sure exactly where they are. We need to work more closely with them, but if the services can't be accessed, the problem is still there. We need to work with the veterans and with Veterans Affairs so that we can determine exactly what the needs are.

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

Okay.

How do you think the government can more successfully reach out to the veterans who are in the northern communities, or the ones who don't necessarily know about the options available for them? Would you have any suggestions on how we can go about reaching out to this population?

[Grand Chief Steven Ross]

Yes. Our veterans are all over Saskatchewan and there are branches of the Legion across the province as well. Some of them will go to the Legion, but in the Legions a lot of the people are civilians and they don't fully understand a veteran. He is a veteran, he is a veteran—that's what I heard this morning—and that's exactly what it is. Sometimes we get turned away.

We had a young fellow coming in from Afghanistan in Prince Albert. He went to the Legion with PTSD and they turned him away, telling him to go to the Indian organization, go to the Saskatchewan veterans association.

We seem to be able to connect with them. We know where they are, we know their reserves, and we know their leaders. If we can connect with them a little bit more....

Of course there is always that setback that we have, and it's finances, and that's the biggest problem we have.

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

Okay.

Emile, can you add to that as well, because you said that you're also from a very northern community? In what ways do you think we can reach out? What would be the best way to make people aware of what services they can get?

[Emile Highway]

They could come through the Saskatchewan First Nation Veterans Association executive, and we'll get to them.

But we'll need gas money. The distances are great. My responsibilities include the Athabasca region, and it's $600 from Prince Albert to Stony Rapids by plane. We get some contributions from the FSIN. A little bit, I think, we get from the government. We do our own fundraising. We raffle Ski-Doos. We make hockey pool. This is a good time of year. The Stanley Cup playoffs are on. Hopefully the Winnipeg Jets will do better tomorrow. They do sell, $20 a square. We split with the winners. It's $1,000 for the winner and $1,000 for the association. We do things like that. It's a hardscrabble way to try to survive as an association.

I think it would be a good way to do it. Just call us, and we'll get to these people.

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

Can you name the association again?

[Emile Highway]

It's the Saskatchewan First Nation Veterans Association.

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

All right. Sorry.

I just wanted to apologize for the awful words that have been said by past politicians about first nations people. It's absolutely disgusting. I know that our government is committed to improving the relationship and getting us back there. I know there's so much work to be done. I think this committee really does have the best intentions at heart to improve the situation for indigenous veterans.

That's all for me.

[Emile Highway]

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

Thanks very much.

We'll move onto Mr. Johns.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you, Grand Chief Ross, for being here and Mr. Highway, for your important testimony.

Maybe I'll start with Grand Chief Ross.

You spoke about how this is not culturally relevant, this support that you're getting for aboriginal veterans. There's no monitoring and data.

Do you want to speak a little bit about what could be done to help address that?

[Grand Chief Steven Ross]

I guess, you know, we've discussed this over and over and over again. One of the things that we want to do is—and we almost got it started—to start up a hospital, a service provided to the young people who are coming out of service, out of the armed services. That's one of the things that we want to do. I think that would help quite a few people with the symptoms of PTSD.

Like I said earlier, it's something that I really don't know much about.

What else? Did I answer your question?

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Yes.

I was actually going to go there because you talked about the facility, and what that facility would look like. It's something that's being talked about right now in the news, about more research or both, with a facility that's also there to serve veterans.

Would you see a stand-alone facility for aboriginal veterans that has cultural training and something that helps bridge the gap?

I know, Mr. Highway, you talked a little bit about how when you came out, you just weren't comfortable speaking with anyone in uniform.

Would that benefit, do you think, veterans, having a stand-alone facility targeted and tailored for veterans?

[Emile Highway]

You know, that's a very good question, having culturally relevant programs for aboriginal soldiers returning or being in transition back to civilian life. I think that's a very good question. I think that someday that would need to be discussed among, say, the executive or maybe at the annual general assembly that we have usually in March. We're trying to have them twice a year. Again, due to shortage of money, we don't.

It is a very important question. It's a highly relevant question. I think it's something that we need to bring to our membership to be able to answer that intelligently or be coherent about what we do need as returning aboriginal veterans. Of course, in the general membership, we have associated members who are elders. I think that would be very beneficial if we could consult them first before we could actually come forward with some kind of a proposal.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

One thing I talked about earlier with the previous witnesses, and it's something I've raised a lot, is that 30% of the caseworkers in the United States are former veterans. Would it benefit aboriginal veterans to have 2.5% of caseworkers be veterans? Looking at the numbers 125 to 150, if we look at a ratio that Veterans Affairs Canada has targeted at 25:1, that would mean five or six officers just in Saskatchewan of aboriginal background who would be able to serve veterans.

I think just in terms of the model right now selling squares, I'm worried the Jets might not make it another round.

I just think it should be properly resourced by the Government of Canada, not just paying for gas and travel, but paying people to do the work. Do you think that it would be important for the government to set targets and try to hire veterans so that they're fulfilling those roles?

I'll let you both speak to that.

[Grand Chief Steven Ross]

Yes, I think that's a good idea. You're doing a good job.

The biggest problem—and it's always a problem—is finances. Also, on the way in which we contact Veterans Affairs, our proposal is to try to get a separate unit within Veterans Affairs that deals with aboriginal veterans. I think that it would be smoother and quicker if that was attempted just for communication, and we can get to those people who are in remote areas as well.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Phil McColeman]

Thank you very much.

We'll move on to Mr. Fraser to finish up this meeting.

[Colin Fraser, Liberal, West Nova, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Gentlemen, thank you both very much for being here and for the good work you're doing in Saskatchewan. It's really appreciated. Your testimony here today will, I'm sure, lead to some recommendations that we can make to the government to ensure that indigenous veterans are getting better services and more recognition for the incredible military service that indigenous people have given to our country.

Mr. Highway, I'll start with you. You mentioned some of the new programs that are now in place for veterans that were not available when you left the forces back in the 1960s, or whenever it was you were in the service and then left.

You mentioned education and training benefit, help with resumé writing, career assistance, help for families, and the caregiver recognition benefit. All of this is important work. Is there any difference that you see with the delivery of those types of services for indigenous veterans in particular that we should be aware of? Do you think it's just as important to make sure that every person, whether they are an indigenous person living on reserve, off reserve, or Métis, is aware of those services? Do you think there's any difference in how the government should be delivering those services to indigenous people?