Thank you.
Evidence of meeting #18 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 affairs.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #18 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 affairs.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Todd, I want you to be sure to get back to my office on that.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, Minister MacAulay. It's a pleasure to have you here today.
I want to discuss with you the veteran and family well-being fund. We know that veterans receive a great deal of support from their families and friends, and certainly from Veterans Affairs Canada, but veterans organizations are an important factor in providing support. Having spoken to a number of these organizations right here at this committee, we've heard and seen first-hand what crucial work they are doing.
As we all know, the pandemic has only made things a little more challenging for our veterans and the organizations that provide them with support. In 2018, the government began funding many veterans organizations through the veteran and family well-being fund. The groups that are receiving this funding are doing a wide range of work and research on veterans' homelessness, mental health and transitioning to civilian life and on supporting women veterans and so much more.
Minister, you and your department recently announced the 2021 recipients of the veteran and family well-being fund. I would like you to speak a bit more about the importance of this fund and the announcement you recently made.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Thank you very much, Ms. Lalonde.
Veterans organizations, big and small, are working on behalf of veterans and their families right across this country, and everybody on the committee knows that. Since 2018, we've been incredibly proud to provide support to 60 organizations throughout Canada. This was done in order to provide a better life for veterans.
Last month we announced that 23 organizations throughout Canada would be receiving funding through the well-being fund to either start or expand their veterans support activities. This year recipients are doing things like supporting the social and emotional well-being of veterans' families and caregivers, honouring our indigenous veterans and helping in developing resources to assist former homeless veterans to live independently. We all know what a big issue the homeless issue is with veterans, and we're working hard on that. We support new approaches to the wellness of women veterans, which is, again, a big issue.
Everyone knows how important these organizations are to our veterans and their families and their communities, like the Legion and many other organizations. This funding is going to do a lot. I'm incredibly proud that we're able to provide them with the funding that they need to make a difference.
You also know that these organizations throughout the country work so hard in their own communities to provide funding for themselves, and all that they do with the funding they receive is to help veterans. Along with it, a lot of these organizations have facilities that are the meeting place for not only veterans but communities right across the country.
It's so vitally important. Again, we're emphasizing the importance of veterans. However, the organizations we've helped do a lot for veterans and they do a lot for the communities they're in.
I appreciate the question. I certainly appreciate the veteran and family well-being fund. It's a wonderful fund and helps out so much. It does a lot for the veterans, and for that I couldn't be more proud. I thank you for the question.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Thank you very much.
Very briefly—I have one minute—I want to talk to you about the Vimy and Juno Beach Centre funding.
The government provided funding to the Juno Beach Centre and the Vimy Foundation. Would you please elaborate on this and speak a little bit about the funding?
There was something very important that we were not able to celebrate between the 9th and the 12th of this month. Certainly we hoped that we could have.... I had the pleasure of representing you on a few events, but this pandemic has certainly changed things.
Minister, I would like to hear about our commitment to the Juno Beach Centre and the Vimy Foundation.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Thank you very much.
The chair is going to cut me off, but with Juno Beach, of course, we know what happened. Canadians landed there.
We were able to announce $500,000 extra funding, over two years, with the $500,000 they get a year. It's so vitally important. It's so important for Canada. Everybody sees that.
The Vimy Foundation does an awful lot of great work. We know what happened at Vimy Ridge. Really, they say, it's the day the nation was born.
The money we provide to Vimy is so important. It provides an online portal for people to virtually view Vimy and its surroundings. Also, it provides an application that can be used by visitors. It explains exactly what took place at Vimy. It's our own Canadian history that took place at Vimy Ridge.
It's so important that Canadians young and old understand exactly what took place at Vimy Ridge, how bravely our soldiers operated there and the lives that were lost—a lot of lives, indeed.
Thank you.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you, Minister. That wraps up this round.
I believe you need to depart at this point. I want to take the opportunity, on behalf of the committee, to thank you for attending today and answering questions.
We will be continuing on with your deputy and officials, but I will extend my thanks, sir, for being with us today.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
I want to thank you, Mr. Chair, and the committee, and urge you to stay sitting. It's a trying time for everybody.
Take care of yourselves, and thank you.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you.
We'll soldier on here. I will backtrack a little bit and introduce the officials.
Of course, we've already heard from someone who is no stranger to this committee, General (Retired) Walter Natynczyk, deputy minister.
Welcome again, sir, officially.
We are also joined by Charlotte Bastien, assistant deputy minister, strategic oversight and communications; Rick Christopher, assistant deputy minister, strategic policy and commemoration; Steven Harris, assistant deputy minister, service delivery; and Sara Lantz, acting assistant deputy minister, chief financial officer and corporate services branch.
I believe, Ms. Lantz, you have an opening statement to start us off for the second hour.
4:40 p.m.
Sara Lantz Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Services Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
Yes. Thank you and good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members.
As the chair just introduced me, my name is Sara Lantz. I'm the acting assistant deputy minister, chief financial officer and corporate services at Veterans Affairs Canada. It's a pleasure to be with you here today to discuss the 2021-22 main estimates for Veterans Affairs Canada and to answer any questions you may have.
Before I speak directly to the main estimates for the new year, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the past year. As has been highlighted many times before, this has been a difficult period of time for all Canadians. The pandemic has impacted all of us in different ways, and yet I'm very proud of how Veterans Affairs Canada staff have worked together over the past year to manage all of the different and complex challenges, which has allowed Veterans Affairs Canada to maintain our services and supports across the country when they have needed us most.
Through our work and achievements prior to the pandemic to become a more digital organization, we were able to quickly and efficiently equip our employees across the country to work remotely. This ensured that there was no disruption in the services provided to our veterans and their families.
In that first month of April, we provided over $350 million worth of benefits and services. Over 12 months, we provided $4.3 billion in benefits and services for fiscal year 2020-2021.
In addition, in response to the pandemic, Veterans Affairs Canada was able to increase the budgets for the veterans emergency fund and the veteran and family well-being fund and to secure an additional $20 million in new funding to provide emergency COVID-19 relief to veterans organizations hard hit by the pandemic, such as some of our Royal Canadian Legions.
Also, in 2020, as we have previously communicated to this committee, we were able to secure an additional $192 million in funding over two years in support of improving our turnaround times for decisions on disability benefits. The department moved quickly to retain, recruit and train over 700 employees, and now we are starting to realize the positive impacts of this increased departmental capacity.
That said, while our service levels were maintained, as a result of the public health and safety measures implemented across the country, we did experience some lower than projected use of in-person services such as home care, dental services, massage therapy or other similar services. Collectively, this resulted in expenditures of 10% less than the amount originally projected before the pandemic.
Now, as we start a new fiscal year, assuming some level of return to normal in 2021-22 due to vaccinations, and taking into account our increased capacity for disability adjudication, you will note that the 2021-22 main estimates provide Veteran Affairs Canada an opening budget of $6.3 billion, which represents an increase of $1 billion, or 20%, compared to last year's main estimates.
We're currently forecasting that approximately $870 million of this $1 billion increase is primarily attributable to the increased capacity and improved turnaround times for disability decisions.
These estimates also include key increases for our income replacement benefit, our health purchase services and veterans independence programs to ensure sufficient funding is available to meet growing demand for these programs.
Lastly, it's always worthwhile to note that over 90% of Veterans Affairs Canada's budget goes towards providing payments and services to our veterans and their families. This funding goes directly to critical programs such as disability benefits, income replacement, rehabilitation, caregiver recognition benefits, education and training, and more.
Mr. Chair, I thank you for the opportunity to provide these opening comments.
I and my colleagues with me here today will be pleased to address any questions that you or other committees may have about these 2021-22 main estimates.
Thank you.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you very much, Ms. Lantz.
Before we move on, I want a show of hands of anybody else on the call who was having some difficulty with interpretation, with the volume being the same. Yes?
We're going to pause for a second and let the technicians see if they can fix this. I was hearing you, Ms. Lantz, but I was hearing the interpreter at the same volume. I was able to make out what you were saying through the interpreter, but it wasn't ideal.
We're going to suspend until they figure this out.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
I think we're just going to soldier on with round three. If we do want to come back to this, maybe at committee business the next time, we can discuss this format and change it, but traditionally we just keep moving forward.
First up we have MP Doherty for five minutes.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank our witnesses for being here.
I don't know who can best answer this. Could somebody please tell me how many of the shuttered Veterans Affairs offices are currently open and servicing veterans?
4:50 p.m.
Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk
Sir, thanks very much.
There were nine offices that were reopened in the time frame of, I believe, 2015 to 2016. A total of nine offices were opened across the country.
4:55 p.m.
Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk
It was those same nine.
In addition to the nine, we opened a 10th office in Surrey, British Columbia, and, in addition to that, created a capacity for our service delivery operations people to visit northern communities across the country, not fixed in any one location but actually moving across the country.
If you want a bit more information, I can ask Steven Harris to address it, sir.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Could you tell me if they all have been fully staffed?
4:55 p.m.
Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk
To my absolute knowledge, they have been fully staffed and continue to be staffed across the board.
Steven, do you want to make a comment in that regard?
4:55 p.m.
Steven Harris Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
Yes, exactly. They have been fully staffed since they were opened. There are, of course, departures on occasion. People move on; they get promoted and other things. We've replaced people as they have departed, so yes, they would be staffed.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Gen (Ret'd) Walter Natynczyk
Sir, all of our offices remain accessible across the country. Again, we want to adhere to the local public health protocols in each location, but they are accessible for our employees.
In terms of in-person access, that is on an exceptional basis only, again, both in following the occupational health and safety guidelines of the public service and in adhering to the public service guidelines in each jurisdiction.
Steven, did you want to talk more on that?