Evidence of meeting #14 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 help.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
Andy Fillmore Liberal Halifax, NS
Thanks, Chair.
Thanks to all of the folks who have joined us today to share their experiences with us. It's wonderful of you to share those experiences and your time with us.
I want to start with a question to Gus Cameron.
Gus, you and I are known to each other quite well. You do and have done, for years, incredible work in the Halifax area with the very large and vibrant veterans community here in Halifax. You've used your voice to help get veterans into hospital beds. You have used your efforts to get groceries to seniors during the pandemic. You've done Valentines for Vets. You've been there for mental health and just for people when they needed someone to be there. You've been through it all.
What the committee is studying today is different from what we usually study. Often we study the challenges that veterans face and the barriers to getting that help that they experience. Today we're really talking about people like you and the other guests who are with us today, the people who are helping veterans. I know it's hard for you to not think about the veterans and to think about yourself, but I'm going to ask you today to think about yourself in your role as a helper.
First, what can you tell us about what it is like to be a caregiver? What are the burdens? What is the drain on you? What is the hardship? What can we do better to support someone who's doing work, as you do, to help the veterans?
As an Individual
Thank you, Andy. Thank you for reaching out.
It's exciting to have an idea and to see it help a veteran or get a policy changed or to see the veteran living day to day in a better way because, maybe, I or a group of us have spoken out and brought awareness of a situation to our policy-makers and rule-makers at the high level. Sometimes these elected folks don't get to see first-hand what's going on at the grassroots level. I have no trouble bringing something to those people when need be.
I enjoy being a voice for a 99-year-old or an 89-year-old. My best friends are in their nineties, and it's so hard, because you know what happens when you get into your nineties. I've had two, three, four devastating losses in the last year of friends of mine who had become very close—heroes. That drives me to keep going for these people.
The latest win was not having vets and their spouses separated anymore. I tried to get that to happen while one vet was still living. My good friend David, the veteran, passed a year ago January, and I know he's smiling down now knowing that veterans will not be separated from their spouses because of different levels of care.
That's my thing. I don't know, Andy, whether or not that answered your question.
Liberal
Andy Fillmore Liberal Halifax, NS
It did, Gus. Thank you.
If there were something the Department of Veterans Affairs Canada could do to help you in your work, if there were some program or support that we could give to help you—not to the veteran but to help you to help the veteran—would anything come to mind?
As an Individual
Yes. I think it's a little bit of an obstacle course trying to get your voice heard or trying to get your question or your suggestion to the right person. I'm dealing with Bell Canada right now regarding the rates they're charging veterans and I'm trying to get the top guy's ear. It's very difficult. I can barely get by the sales representatives here in Halifax. I've tried. I do have the mail of the CEO. They keep passing me off to local people to try to solve the problem, but it's not really a local problem. It's a Canada problem.
If I had an avenue—I think maybe this committee is an avenue—to bring suggestions and ideas to make things better for veterans, that might be what I need. I don't need a direct route or a direct name or phone number. We just need a direct way to bring our case, our problems, our situations, to the policy changers, to the people who can make a difference.
Liberal
Andy Fillmore Liberal Halifax, NS
Thanks for that, Gus. I really appreciate that.
Ms. Malette, thank you for sharing your experience. As it stands, a variety of mental health benefits are available to veterans that are not extended to their caregivers. In the minute we have, I wonder if you could speak to us about why it's important for the veteran's well-being that their family and caregivers' well-being are also taken care of?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
I'm afraid it's a lot less than a minute, but a brief answer would be great, please.
Director for Veteran Families, Caregivers' Brigade
To sum up, when the entire family, the entire unit, is doing well then I think the veteran does well also. If we're all dragging behind him, it's not helpful.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you.
Before we move on to the next questioner, I wanted to let folks know that we did get notice that we can extend, but only for a very short period of time. Pushing it 20 to 25 minutes would be the maximum in being able to extend, if the committee so chooses at the end.
MP Desilets is up next.
The next six minutes are all yours, sir.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to start by saying that my thoughts are with all our female colleagues, members of Parliament and guests, on this International Women's Day.
I also thank all of our witnesses who are heroically engaged in combat.
You are an inspiration to me.
My first question is for you, Mr. Lavallée. Your experience in the field is very interesting. I saw a 10-minute video of your activity on February 21. I was very impressed to see all the co-operation and solidarity among veterans. I really want to congratulate you.
I feel that there is a connection between the difficulty many veterans and their families have in receiving services and the fact that these services are not close at hand. I feel that they are experiencing difficulties within their families because they don't have services.
Am I mistaken or is there a connection between the two?
As an Individual
Good afternoon. You are not mistaken. Accessing services is challenging in a number of ways.
One of them is the language issue. To access three-quarters of the services that are offered, you have to go through Ottawa, and you almost always get an answer in English.
As I said, I am affiliated with the Royal 22nd Regiment, which is predominantly francophone. When a person is already having difficulties, when they are destitute and confused, and when they have to express themselves in a language that is not their own, they may find it too complicated and give up. They may just give up and end up on the street.
Often, when veterans are discharged from the military, they are not aware of all the services available to them. They may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, they may have certain issues, a mental health problem, for example, as the lady said earlier.
In relation to PTSD, a psychologist said that it can be the result of being raped when the person was young, for example. When they walk into an apartment and see a lamp or a colour, it takes them back to their youth. Let's think about someone from the military who walks down the street every day, hears all sorts of sounds, and smells all sorts of smells. It doesn't take much to send them back to the past. When they go to ask for help, the bureaucracy is too much for them at that point in their life.
I would add that, when veterans ask for help, it doesn't matter whether they are retired or out of the military for health reasons or whatever, they need it right away. If it takes too long, they become lost in their problems and they fall into decline. Sometimes, they cannot be found or there's a message that they committed suicide. Sometimes, we learn that the family found it too much and that they separated, which made their problem worse. The problems multiply when you don't get help.
Getting help is very complicated for veterans. As I mentioned earlier, I work with the homeless. The veterans I meet on the street have substance abuse problems. It's not surprising. What got them there? Often we have great discussions about the past events that got them there. If they had more help and understanding when they came out, it might have lessened their problems. It is important to make contact and take steps to try to help them.
Let me give you an example. One veteran told me about one of his missions. Of course, I'm not here to do an assessment. But he told me that on this DND mission, he shot at a lot of people. At one point, he asked for help and ended up in front of an office worker. I respect that lady. However, she was making things difficult for him and he became enraged. The aggression came back. He gave up and left. At one point, we found out that he wanted to kill himself. The last we heard, he apparently did. Please understand that access to services needs to be easier for these people who are seeking help.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I wonder if I understood correctly. Did you say that people were not getting service in their language?
As an Individual
They have a lot of difficulty obtaining these services in their language. It is very difficult. Let's say that you have to make several urgent requests. Some people are told no. Actually, we are not told no, but it is—
As an Individual
Yes, it's longer and more complicated. You get there after three or four requests, after showing that you cannot speak English.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You make another connection that I think is really important. You draw a parallel between homelessness and how slow it is to receive services. They eventually get fed up and end up on the street. That's what I'm hearing.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
I have to jump in here, guys. I'm so sorry.
Mr. Lavallée, you can finish your thought, but that's time.
Go ahead, sir.
As an Individual
Let me come back to Mr. Desilets' question.
If it takes too long to meet veterans' needs, they will give up. They will certainly go back to what they know, or they will be in survival mode, on the street. They'll figure that it's easier to live that way than to get help and get into the system.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you so much, Chair. I want to thank all the people who are here today testifying on this very important issue of caregivers and the important role they play in supporting veterans.
We've heard from other witnesses about the challenges that caregivers are facing in accessing resources and the harm to the veteran if the appropriate resources are not put in place for the family.
I'm wondering if I could start with either Ms. Malette or Ms. McLeod, one of you or both of you. I'm curious about what kinds of efforts around supporting the caregivers you see with the people you serve. Where are the blocks and the challenges that families and caregivers are facing in accessing supports from VAC? We've heard from several witnesses that this is often one of the biggest challenges.
Ms. McLeod, I think you told a very good story—a horrifying story, really—about what happens to families and to veterans when a caregiver's health has severe challenges.
Could you talk about what those blocks are and what you see as the impact on the family directly when VAC isn't able to assist not only the veteran but the caregiver of the veteran?
