Evidence of meeting #5 for Veterans Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cases.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Alex Ruff Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
That's kind of surprising, obviously.
As a follow-up to that, could you get us the exact number? Would you have access to the exact number of former veterans who are serving as case managers?
National President, Union of Veterans' Affairs Employees
I can reach out to my regional vice-presidents for them to check with their teams, absolutely.
Conservative
Alex Ruff Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
It would be great if you could provide that to the committee.
Finally, do you notice a difference, or is there any feedback on those who are former veterans who are serving, in their ability to deliver services and connect with the veterans? Is there any difference?
National President, Union of Veterans' Affairs Employees
They see the same things that veterans in the community face, the struggles and tribulations. We have a number of dual employees/veterans who have actually filed complaints as high as the ombudsman's office due to that.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Thank you all for your presentations. I very much appreciate your giving us a picture from your perspective.
The Legion plays such an important role. We don't know all the work they do, but it's very impressive. Just your welcome program, I think, is a great initiative because we're seeing fewer young veterans joining the Legion, so that's a great strategy.
The case workers, the staff officers you have and the work they do, are very important to us.
I think to better understand the picture, we have to look at.... We know that since 2015, we've had 90% more first-time applicants and 60% more repeat applicants. There's a reason for that.
What is that reason?
Director, Veterans Services, Dominion Command, Royal Canadian Legion
I've been there since 2011. My focus when I got there was on outreach. I tried to give as many presentations as possible. We have a great marketing team at the Legion right now. We're hooked into the RCMP. We're hooked into the Canadian Armed Forces. Anybody with a CFOne card would have received an email stating what we can do for them. They just have to pick up the phone for us.
As a matter of fact, at many of the conferences I'm at, people ask, “What is the Legion doing here?” The Legion is here because we care. It's as simple as that.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Just to focus a bit more.
Would you agree that there have been a lot of new programs put in place since 2015 to better support and meet the needs of our veterans?
Director, Veterans Services, Dominion Command, Royal Canadian Legion
There's more programming, each on top of the other. I'm not going to say they all support everything. Sometimes we need to see what the output is going to be, so there has to be a plan for the end.
Director, Veterans Services, Dominion Command, Royal Canadian Legion
As you know, we have three different or distinct groups of veterans now under the Pension Act, the Veterans Well-being Act, and now the pension for life and your monthly pain and suffering compensation. All three are different, so if all three can be looked at, that would be great.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
So there are more programs, more outreach, more benefits and more time. There's no question about that.
Director, Veterans Services, Dominion Command, Royal Canadian Legion
Social media has a great effect, sir.
Liberal
Director, Veterans Services, Dominion Command, Royal Canadian Legion
It's great news.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
We should be proud of this.
I'm hearing from a lot of veterans who are very happy. I'm hearing from some veterans who are having some issues. We need to continue to improve. There's no doubt about that.
To the union now, give us a picture of what is on the ground today. My previous question for the Legion was about new programs and the changes that were brought forward to support our veterans.
You've seen your employees. Tell me how many employees were fired between 2012 and 2015 whom we had to rehire, because we know we reopened nine offices across the country to support our veterans. Tell us a little bit about the picture between 2010 and 2020—if you want, by dividing it at 2015.
National President, Union of Veterans' Affairs Employees
We are nowhere near the numbers that we had. I was looking at the FTE numbers on the department's human resources website. Just from the numbers from 2007 to 2017, we're still down about 250 FTEs from that point in 2007. However, the case management numbers have increased; the applications have increased, and the complexity of veterans files has increased.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
I agree 100%.
My understanding is that between 2012 and 2015, when I went to P.E.I., there were about 6,700 employees fired or laid off. Am I correct in saying that?
National President, Union of Veterans' Affairs Employees
It wasn't just in Charlottetown. There was a huge impact across Canada.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
We're fighting, trying to catch up from that point. As well, there are all the new benefits and opportunities for veterans and their families, which is crucial.
In testimony the other day—
