Evidence of meeting #12 for Veterans Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Operations, Veterans Transition Network
Okay.
In round two, they had a national stream that was better suited to national organizations, but almost no money was given to veterans organizations in round two.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Well done. Excellent.
Now we'll go over to MP Desilets, for six minutes, please.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, respected colleagues.
I thank the witnesses for joining us and for answering our questions.
I would like to begin with Suzanne Le.
Ms. Le, we see on your organization's website that it is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Congratulations on that! Unless I'm mistaken, your organization was founded in 2001.
I would like to know how your organization takes homeless women into account. Does it take them into account in the same way it does homeless male veterans?
4:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Multifaith Housing Initiative
If I'm to understand it correctly, you're asking me if I consider...regular homeless population to the homeless veteran population? Is that correct?
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I would like to know whether your organization takes into account homeless women as much as it does homeless men.
4:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Multifaith Housing Initiative
Thank you.
Veterans' House is open to both males and females. Our first offer that went out, on December 23, went to a female veteran who had been living in her car in the Legion parking lot since 2019. The Legion had certified her service.
Each unit is an independent living unit so that each person can live within their own space. They have their own washroom, their own little kitchenette and a bedroom. Then they have a lot of community space, where they can come together and create that unit...and also we can do a lot of programming. It is open to both males and females.
When it comes to men and women represented in the homeless population—and this is something you would know from the study that was done—female veterans make up about 3% to 10% of the homeless veteran population.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
That's very clear.
Are members of the LGBTQ2 community also taken into account and are they welcome in your organization?
4:55 p.m.
Executive Director, Multifaith Housing Initiative
Absolutely. We have a very open organization, very welcoming to LGBTQ, and we are aware that they might have very specific areas of concern and areas where maybe some of their trauma might be coming from within their veteran experience. That is being taken into account in our programming.
4:55 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
That's great. I commend you for it.
An American study suggests that one of the good practices to use is the separation of homeless individuals by sex—in other words, keeping homeless men separate from homeless women.
Is that something you take into account?
5 p.m.
Executive Director, Multifaith Housing Initiative
No, each one gets their own unit. No one is bunking together. People have their own private space. Within the building, we have males and females together and that has to do with, one, creating a community; and two, we're talking about people who are coming from a military background. They have a bit of a different perspective in that it's more about that creation of the military unit, the brothers and sisters in arms, versus maybe a more civilian perspective. I would guess that the other study came from a civilian perspective.
5 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I have one last question for you.
On your website, which is actually very well designed and very interesting, we can see that your communications are only in English.
Do you provide services in French?
5 p.m.
Executive Director, Multifaith Housing Initiative
Yes, all the services in the building and to our tenants are also offered in French. Right now, we do not have the resources to do translations on websites and such. It would be a tremendous amount of resources, which is something that's not within our budget ability at this moment in time. We do hope to be able to reach that capacity at some point in the future, but we can't afford it at this moment.
5 p.m.
Liberal
5 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
To all of you, thank you for your testimony today. I represent 11 Legions in my riding. I know that during this time of increased uncertainty it has been very hard for many of them, and they've been so great at keeping me updated about what was happening. I think we all know that Legions and veterans' service organizations provide such a pivotal role to the community and I want to acknowledge everybody for the hard work they've done.
I know most recently, just talking about homelessness, one of the veterans in my riding, Bill Webb, has been working very closely with several Legions across Vancouver Island to try to put together a project and a plan to address homelessness for veterans in my riding. I'm incredibly impressed with the work he's doing and look forward to supporting that in whatever way I can.
Ms. Le, perhaps I could come to you first.
First of all, I don't agree with you. I've worked with many veterans, women veterans who have experienced military-specific sexual trauma who really feel the need to provide a more safe environment for themselves, so I don't know that it is just civilian research that talks about women specifically needing safe housing that may be women-specific.
I wonder whether you could speak to any research or work that your organization has done on sex and gender-based Canadian research to make sure that all the initiatives are safe and inclusive for all veterans.
5 p.m.
Executive Director, Multifaith Housing Initiative
There has been a good amount of research. For some women, this will not be a good environment, because we have serving military who will be coming in and out of the building in our community partnerships. For some women, the sight of a uniform is a trigger. Therefore, this is not a healthy environment for them.
We have 139 other units that are not Veterans' House that have different space for them that would be a better fit. Veterans' House is for people who will be very comfortable in this environment.
When we do an intake, every tenant comes in and is interviewed by our housing manager as well as the mental health supports worker. The kind of programming that happens in the house and the kinds of people who will be living in the house are explained to them. They're taken on a tour of the building. Based on that, they are either made an offer or not made an offer. If we think this environment is an unhealthy fit for them, then we deny them the—
5 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you. I think you've answered my question.
I want to point out that in the last Parliament, in the study we did around housing, we talked about how women veterans are one of the most increasing populations we see in veterans, so it's too bad there's an exclusive nature to the work you do.
I will go to Mr. Thorne. Thank you for your testimony today. I found it really informative. You talked about the ability for your organization to modify the program. I'm wondering if you can talk a little about what that looks like. As a member of Parliament who represents a more rural riding, I know sometimes we find the biggest challenge is getting people to a place where they can get the support and treatment they need.
I'm curious about how that's been modified.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Operations, Veterans Transition Network
I'll compare and contrast our previous program and how we've modified the program for delivery during COVID.
The veterans transition program that we typically deliver, which we have been running for 20 years, is 10 days in total, but it's broken up into three workshops of four days, four days and two days, with roughly a two- to three-week separation between each workshop. That's constructed with the idea that the veterans are coming into the space, working on the challenges they're experiencing, developing skills and awarenesses, and then going home for two to three weeks to integrate those in their day-to-day life. The total duration of the program that we typically deliver is about four to six weeks.
The multiple instances of travel and the physical action interventions that we use on the program to address trauma are, again, not a good fit for COVID.
The delivery that we have adapted to is what we call the transition skills course. It's a single, five-day, in-person retreat. It's still delivered in person, but we've incorporated a COVID-19 protocol and safety plan, PPE that was provided by the Canadian Red Cross, and training to that effect as well. We've incorporated social distancing protocols into the delivery of the program.
Our typical program is a circle of 10 veterans and psychologists. It's now a bigger circle. We have protocols at the retreat centres so that meals are individual, taking precautions at every step to minimize contact among participants and among participants and staff.
In terms of the curriculum, the program has been adapted to address some of the challenges we're hearing about from veterans during the time in COVID. Obviously, many veterans are struggling with their transition or perhaps a traumatic event because of service.
I know I only have a minute here, so I'm going to try to go through this quickly.
A lot of their supports, informal or formal, have been reduced in terms of accessibility. They are at home, in close quarters with family, which is more challenging. We're working a lot around communication, emotional regulation and planning for the future. We've modified the curriculum to focus on that, because that's what we've heard from veterans that they're struggling with.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Yes, I've heard similar things.
I have only 10 seconds. When you say “the bigger circle”, does that mean you have to get bigger space or rent that? Was that an added cost?
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Operations, Veterans Transition Network
Most of the spaces we typically use were able to accommodate us. We are seeing increased costs because there are fewer efficiencies, if you will, with this design of the program. Yes, costs have increased a bit.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
February 1st, 2021 / 5:05 p.m.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Thank you, Chair, and thank you to all our witnesses for being here today.
I want to go back to Mr. Thorne.
You mentioned something and I caught it briefly. You were concerned in large part with a contraction in veteran support services going forward. I understood that to be more broadly. We've heard concerns from the Legion, etc., about the closure of the Legions. You also mentioned something about an internal processing decision within Veterans Affairs to disallow funding for veterans, but you weren't specific on that particular part. I'm interested in hearing what that was.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Operations, Veterans Transition Network
As I mentioned earlier in my brief introduction to VTN, we've been a registered service provider for Veterans Affairs Canada since 2013. Basically what that means is for veterans who attend our program through a claim with Veterans Affairs, or if their claim would cover an entitlement for our program to essentially be funded, then their participation is paid for by the department. It's a fee for service basically. It makes up in any given year about one-third of the clients who attend our programs. For the remaining two-thirds we raise the funding as a charitable organization to cover their costs to go into the program because either they don't have a Veterans Affairs claim, or perhaps their claim doesn't extend to cover that cost.
I think this is one of the roles that we play as a service provider specifically to Veterans Affairs Canada because we are reaching a segment of the population that is not engaging.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
What reason were you given for this funding to be disallowed?
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Operations, Veterans Transition Network
Just that they have entered an internal review of the program. They flagged the new program for review. At the time that we launched the program we spoke to a number of people at Veterans Affairs, some people at Medavie, and they said as a registered service provider, which we were, we would be eligible to bill for this new program. We've had probably about 20 Veterans Affairs clients to through the program who have been funded, but just last week we were notified by somebody in the Manitoba office that the program has been flagged and they are now blanket refusing all approvals until that review has taken place. We're seeing that response is being mirrored in other offices now because we are entering our 2021 program delivery and we're just hearing “no” from offices across Canada. The only thing we've been told is that it's under review and we're not sure why.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Okay.
I think there's more information that needs to come out on this but we don't have enough time in my line of questioning.
Mr. Davis, I want to talk to you. It's the 30th anniversary of the Gulf War. I want to thank you for your service. I know you represent a large group of Gulf War veterans. Speak to the impact that COVID is having on the group that you represent maybe a little bit more in depth.