Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 17th, 2021

[William Amos, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Thank you for your responses, Mr. Freeman and Mr. Harris.

I want to come back to this topic. I now understand what types of programs and services are available.

Chair, are you signalling me to stop?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Yes. You can have a final comment but you're out of time.

[William Amos, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

I'll leave it there.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Now we go to MP Desilets for two and a half minutes.

Go ahead, please.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Harris, you referred again earlier to the 18,000 calls. Did an automated telephone system make those calls, or did individuals call those people?

[Steven Harris]

Case managers and other departmental staff made all the calls.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Okay. That's good.

Are we to understand that staff recruitment is proceeding quite well? Are there fewer difficulties than a year ago?

[Steven Harris]

The simple answer is that, even during the pandemic, we were able to hire over 350 people, as a result of a truly tremendous team effort at Veterans Affairs.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Yes, that's true. Hear, hear!

I have another question for you.

Ste. Anne's Hospital has a special clinic, called the OSI clinic, which deals with operational stress injuries.

Given the situation over the past year, has the allocated budget been increased? This clinic provides services to families.

[Steven Harris]

All clinics of this nature provide services to families. This isn't exclusive to Ste. Anne's Hospital. The clinics can be found across the country and they all provide services to families. We're in constant contact with each of these clinics to ensure that they have what they need to provide the services.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

The budgets have been maintained. There haven't necessarily been any increases.

[Steven Harris]

I'm not aware of any changes to the budgets, but there certainly haven't been any cuts.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Perfect.

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

We go to MP Blaney for two and a half minutes.

Go ahead, please.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you so much, Chair.

I'm going back to the OVO report again. The paper mentions in several places the government-funded operational stress injury social support program and its peer-support programs specifically for spouses of those with operational stress injuries. Again, this is really talking about caregivers. Is this program also open to caregivers who are not spouses?

[Steven Harris]

I'd have to come back on that one specifically. I'm not sure that it is open to caregivers, but it may be open to caregivers, given that it's based on the recommendations of professionals who engage in a multidisciplinary approach for supporting the veteran. I'd have to check on the exact caregiver definition you've brought here. I do know they bring in a number of different people to be able to help support the veteran as part of the treatment.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

I also note that an operational stress injury is defined by the OSISS program as, “...any persistent psychological difficulty resulting from operations in the military. Those operational duties can include training incidents, domestic operations and international operations.”

Can you clarify whether or not VAC considers persistent psychological difficulties resulting from military sexual trauma during operations an OSI? For example, can a spouse of an impacted military sexual trauma veteran call up OSISS for peer support or not?

[Steven Harris]

I'd be happy to come back to you on the very specific nature of that question to make sure I give you the appropriate response.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Okay.

I would also add that I would like to hear if there are any alternative services VAC provides to those spouses for this unique military form of trauma. It is concerning to me that we don't have that really clearly, so I'm looking forward to hearing about that.

I think when we look at the reality, we are struggling to get women into the military. We're seeing women on the other side, when they become veterans, really struggling. We know that women after 10 years.... We're seeing women veterans becoming more and more challenged, especially around homelessness. We know that veterans who are single are more often than not women.

I'm very concerned that they're not getting the supports they need, so could you get that information? I think that if we want to attract women into the military, we'd better treat them well when they are veterans.

Thank you.

[Steven Harris]

We most certainly will. I know that through the veterans and family well-being fund, we have been providing funding to a variety of organizations that are both conducting research and looking to develop these kinds of programming to be able to support the unique needs of women veterans in these kinds of circumstances as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

That's excellent.

I'm sorry to step in; it's my job. I'm a professional interrupter.

That brings us to the halfway mark of this meeting. I want to thank all three of you for joining us.

I want to ask Colonel Jardine to join us.

If you are ready, Colonel, the next five minutes are all yours for opening remarks.

[Col, Ret'd) Nishika Jardine (Veterans Ombudsman, Office of the Veterans Ombudsman]

Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Chair and committee members.

Thank you for this invitation to speak with you. As you know, I was appointed to the veterans ombudsman position this past November. I'm appearing before you today for the first time. I'm joined by my colleague, Duane Schippers.

I'm honoured to share our latest study and our report on mental health treatment benefits for family members of veterans.

The foundational principle for our study is the understanding that, when a military member serves, their family also serves. As a result, we believe that family members of veterans deserve access to funded mental health treatment when their own need is connected to military service. This is something that does not currently exist for those family members not participating in a veteran’s treatment plan.

This issue isn't new to us. We first recommended in 2016 that Veterans Affairs Canada fund mental health treatment for the family members of veterans in their own right and independent of the veterans' needs.

In the fall and winter of 2019-20, our office received a number of complaints regarding this issue. In February 2020, we launched an in-depth study to bolster our earlier recommendation.

We published our findings on January 19, 2021. We found a growing body of Canadian research regarding the impact of service on families. Military families are known to be incredibly resilient, but the evidence speaks to the reality that military service carries with it unique stressors that can impact a spouse's or child’s mental health. Frequent postings, long and multiple absences of the military member and the inherent risk of their illness, injury or death are key factors in the mental health and well-being of military families.

The minister, in his response to our report, acknowledged the impact that military service has on the well-being of both veterans and their family members. Currently, the department provides limited individual mental health treatment to spouses and children, but only when the family member’s treatment is directly connected to achieving a positive outcome for the veteran.

This policy ultimately has the effect of creating both inequity and a disservice to those veterans' spouses and children who are essentially barred from accessing funded treatment in their own right simply because their veteran doesn’t need or isn’t in treatment.

From our perspective as an advocate for fairness, family members—meaning spouses, former spouses and children—who are experiencing mental health issues as a direct result of being part of a military family should have independent access to their own mental health treatment benefits.

Let me share some of the stories that we were given permission to relate.

One spouse told us she was not asking for charity. She was asking to get the help she needs to support a man who's already given up too much in the service of his country.

A disabled veteran shared with us that her young children essentially had to take care of her when she came home broken and as a result they had mental health issues of their own. She related how her youngest daughter, who is under the age of 12, has become afraid of being alone. Her daughter needs treatment but she simply cannot afford to pay for it.

Another spouse shared how her veteran spouse suffers from PTSD, which is made so much worse when his episodes cause severe distress to his children. They desperately need professional and age-appropriate treatment to help them make sense of their father's condition, and this is simply beyond her scope as a mother.

The bottom line is that there is a gap in the way the department is meeting its obligation to veterans' families. We have made three recommendations.

First and foremost, that family members including spouses, former spouses, survivors and dependent children have access to federal government-funded mental health treatment when the mental health illness is related to the conditions of military service experienced by the family member. This should be independent of the veteran's treatment plan and regardless of whether the veteran is engaging in treatment.

Second, that the department conduct and publish the gender-based analysis of its policies and regulations for mental health support to veterans' families.

Finally, that the department continue to demonstrate flexibility in meeting the individual mental health needs of family members.

In summary, we believe that this is an important fairness matter in need of both attention and action. We're hopeful that, by publishing our findings, we'll see progress on this issue that recognizes the cost of service that some family members are paying. Your interest in keeping the conversation going is very important to me, as the veterans ombudsman, and to my office.

Thank you again for your invitation to share our report with you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you so much, Colonel, for those incredibly heartfelt comments. We do very much appreciate hearing your perspective to start us on this study.

Up first for questions for six minutes we have MP Doherty.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Colonel, I appreciate your heartfelt comments. Since my first day of being elected I've been a tireless champion for those who serve our community and for those who serve our country. The passage of my Bill C-211 and our subsequent work has been both a blessing but also a curse, I feel, because our office has been inundated with messages such as yours. So I really appreciate your testimony today.

Colonel, in your opinion, should mental injury be seen in parity with physical injury?

[Col (Ret'd) Nishika Jardine]

Absolutely, injury is injury. I think we all understand that it doesn't matter whether it's physical or psychological. Our society has grown to understand that these injuries must be treated exactly the same way.