Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 17th, 2021

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

Thank you.

I'll go back to the OVO report, which made this recommendation:

That VAC conduct and publish a Gender Based Analysis+ of the accessibility to mental health treatment benefits and services to family members, including spouses, former spouses, survivors and dependent children, to determine if there are barriers which make it difficult for certain groups to access the mental health care they need.

Of course, I think that's a great recommendation. I'm just a little bit curious about why this is listed as a recommendation. Is VAC not mandated already to do a GBA+ analysis for all of these types of issues?

[Steven Harris]

My first response is that you'll have to ask the ombudsperson herself why she decided to put it in or included it as a recommendation.

With respect to our obligation to look at everything from a GBA+ lens, we do that on a regular basis. Crystal and her policy team, and Mitch and his service delivery team, continue to look at the application and the way in which programs—all of them, not just the caregiver recognition benefit—are actually managed. Some of them are new. We learn as we go forward through that and we make adjustments from that period of time. Some of them are part of regular reviews. We look at those kinds of things, and we are mandated to look at all of those things, as we go forward with respect to the way in which the policy and the programs are run.

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

I'm sure I'll have to follow up on this in this next section, but can you tell me how GBA+ is being implemented? What kind of training is happening? Who's getting the training?

[Steven Harris]

I might ask Crystal if she wants to chime in here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Be very brief, please, because that's time.

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

Thank you, Chair.

[Crystal Garrett-Baird]

There is training being provided within the department. We're also working quite closely with our colleagues at WAGE, who are supporting us with some training and some new tools.

To Mr. Harris's point as well, as part of any new policy, program or service, there is a GBA+ analysis done. That's continuously reviewed and adjusted as our programs evolve.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you.

MP Brassard, you have five minutes. Please go ahead.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's good to see you again, Steve. In your briefing, you said there were about 4,000 veterans in long-term care facilities across the country and you're working to keep them safe. In the context of COVID, how many of those veterans and their families have been vaccinated against COVID-19?

[Steven Harris]

I wouldn't have the specific figures to respond to the question of how many of those veterans have been vaccinated, at this point. As the committee member would be aware, provincial governments across the country are in the midst of deciding exactly how the vaccinations are being rolled out.

I am happy to report that long-term care facilities are priorities in almost every jurisdiction I've seen. We do know of a number of facilities across the country where vaccinations are well under way or actually completed for veterans.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Frankly, I'm kind of surprised you wouldn't know those numbers, given the fact that they are under VAC care.

Curiously, when I go through the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, not once in their plan are veterans mentioned, yet the veterans administration in the United States has taken the responsibility of vaccinating their veterans, particularly because they're elderly and have comorbidities that put them at greater risk. How come VAC didn't initiate, through its own initiative, a vaccination program for veterans in this country? Why is it not a priority in the centre for immunization?

[Steven Harris]

I think the answer to the question is that the systems are actually quite different. In the health care system in the U.S., as you've referred to with respect to veterans, the veterans administration actually runs the hospitals and runs a lot of the facilities where veterans are being supported through long-term care facilities. That's not the case here, where provincial jurisdiction and provincial health care regulations are in place.

We do regularly speak with all of these facilities, particularly where we have a significant population of veterans, but also all of the other facilities where veterans are located, to ensure that their care is being well supported and to see if there is anything else we can do.

Mitch, did you want to add something there?

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Just be brief, Mitch, if you can. I want to go in another direction here.

[Mitch Freeman]

Certainly.

I would simply say that we are working closely with all of the facilities for these 4,000 veterans, on a day-to-day point of view, monitoring for vaccinations. It is certainly a priority of ours to make sure they have everything we can offer. We do monitor it very closely. We're quite happy that long-term care facilities are at the top of the list and are being done first.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

I want to talk now, Steve, about Sean Bruyea. The veterans ombudsman came out with a report just before Christmas. Since we are talking about caregiver allowances for veterans, you're probably aware of the case.

The veterans ombudsman talked about it being “vengeful” and “retaliatory”. The minister's office said that decision was made by senior bureaucrats. My question to you is, why would Bruyea be cut off and are there any other veterans in a situation similar to Bruyea's whose benefits are continuing right now?

[Steven Harris]

Thanks again for the question.

As you would appreciate, we cannot speak to the situations of individual veterans with respect to the way in which benefits are administered. I'd be happy to take any questions with respect to general issues on a program that would be of interest to you.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

My question is, then, why would his benefit be cut off when he had been receiving it? The minister said that it was the bureaucracy—VAC—that made that decision. Why would that be done?

[Steven Harris]

I think that in general when we look at whether benefits are in place or when they may be removed, they're applied against the context of the situation that they're found in. In other words, circumstances and situations could change for individual veterans, and their access and eligibility of veterans may also change as they go through a process of rehabilitation, treatment or any number of other things. Situations are re-evaluated. People are able to access additional benefits.

Some benefits do not become relevant for some individual veterans over time, and that may be the case where individual veterans find themselves in different circumstances as a result of improvements, changes or what have you, but I couldn't speak to an individual case in this instance.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

For my last question, broadly across society we're seeing issues come up as a result of COVID. I would expect that caseloads are going to increase, particularly in the area of mental health. How prepared is the department to deal with what is anticipated to be an influx of even more cases?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Could we have a very quick answer, please?

[Steven Harris]

Quickly on this, what I'd say is that there are a number of different ways in which we can approach and support veterans in mental health. Case management is one. The opportunity for veterans to participate through the occupational stress injury clinics is another.

Over the course of the last year, the transition for the occupational stress injury clinics has been quite good in being able to move to that virtual support and platform quite quickly to continue to support people through a very difficult pandemic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much.

Now, for five minutes, we have MP Amos, please.

[William Amos, Liberal, Pontiac, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Garrett-Baird and Mr. Harris, thank you for your contribution and for being here today.

I want to ask about the military family resource centres. A few years ago, our government invested approximately $147 million to increase the number of military service centres—I believe that there are 32.

How was the money invested? What improvements have been made? I'm not very familiar with these centres and I don't know whether there are any differences among them. I want to know more about the centres.

[Steven Harris]

Thank you for your question.

I'll start responding, and then I'll ask Mr. Freeman to provide additional information.

The purpose of the family resource centres is to meet the specific needs of medically released Canadian Forces members and their families. We've established 32 military family resource centres, where coordinators support not only veterans, but also their families during the transition period. They can visit these centres in person or contact the centres by phone, an increasingly crucial option in the pandemic period.

They can also access online resources for help with their transition to civilian life. The information line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The coordinators can help veterans because they're aware of the veterans' specific needs. The coordinators refer family members to information and resources in the community to help make the veterans' transition easier.

With that I might ask Mitch if he would add a little bit more about the veteran family program if that's okay.

[Mitch Freeman]

Thank you, Steven.

I would simply add a little bit more detail around the military family resource centres, noting that they are managed by a group of volunteers at a board-of-director level who look at the community resources and assess the local needs. Therefore, all of these 32 locations offer what is needed in their community, things such as specialized transition programs around financial education assistance, employment and relocation services, a program called “Couples Overcoming PTSD Every Day”, a program for the caregiver, enhanced information and referral services, and, as Mr. Harris noted, the family information line, and also training around mental health first aid.

I would also highlight that in the fiscal year of 2019–20 nearly 3,000 individuals accessed the veteran family program, which provided nearly 9,000 interactions with veterans, as Mr. Harris noted, medically released and their families. As noted, there are 32 locations across the country. Veterans Affairs provides funding for this program as managed by our colleagues at the Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services.

Thank you.