Good afternoon, Chair and ladies and gentlemen. I sincerely thank you for inviting me back.
It is well documented that Minister Seamus O'Regan spread falsehoods about me in retaliation for my writing about the government's flagship election promise for veterans, the pension for life. The day after the minister published his defamatory words, VAC, without warning, consultation, client notes or justification, sent a letter cancelling care for our six-year-old son.
The toll upon my body and mind from my military injuries meant that having my family was nearly impossible. I was 47 when we were blessed with our son. Living with a chronically ill father, he is profoundly sensitive to my physical and mental health. He isn't just worried about his father—he is terrified. Each symptom is an inevitable path to my death. He agonizes that I will be ordered to war again soon.
There was no public program to adequately address his safety and health needs. We plan on home-schooling him once I complete my rehabilitation. Meanwhile, we found a caring school that accommodates his empathic burdens. Also, I was allowed to be with him in his classroom, walk him through the hallways and carry out a morning ritual of anywhere from 10 to 30 hugs until he felt safe leaving his father.
When my heart went into a dangerous arrhythmia and I collapsed, my normally clear-thinking wife became paralyzed. My endless barrage of symptoms is too much for her. It was my son who saved me. He found my medicine and brought it to me. He tried to open the childproof container. He kept his cool and handed it to me. He sat by me, eyes watering. The contents spilled out. He looked at my chest, covered in pills, heaving up and down at 240 beats per minute. After I had taken my medication, he spoke in a shaky voice and said, “Dada, can I please clean up the pills for you?”
When Veterans Affairs cancelled our son's care, which had been in place for five years, I sought help from assistant deputy minister Bernard Butler. He was appointed as my VAC contact following the 2010 privacy scandal. I am my case manager's only client, and she dealt directly with him. Mr. Butler went to director general Faith McIntyre, whose division spearheaded the pension for life program. Without substantiation, both Bernard Butler and Faith McIntyre decided that my son's care did not meet the intent of the program. Bernard Butler never revealed to me that he was also representing VAC in my defamation lawsuit against Seamus O'Regan.
I proposed solutions to reinstate our son's care. Even though my case manager and others agreed to appoint an inquiries resolution officer, Bernard Butler and, later, assistant deputy minister Michel Doiron both intervened to stop the appointment.
I regularly asked deputy minister Walter Natynczyk, as well as Mr. Doiron and Mr. Butler, to provide evidence that school-aged children should be denied private care not provided by the public system. They ignored my questions. Instead, they repeatedly sent me to my case manager, deflecting VAC's failures and portraying them as pathological manifestations of my mental health.
My health deteriorated. Allan Hunter offered to be my advocate. Allan, Perry Gray and I wrote more than 50 emails and letters to Bernard Butler, Michel Doiron, Steven Harris and Walter Natynczyk. We proposed solutions, reported my deteriorating condition and asked for evidence supporting VAC's inexplicable interpretation of policy. Meanwhile, I was forced into emergency wards once per month. My five to eight weekly medical appointments focused on addressing VAC's harm.
Not once did these senior officials answer any questions. Neither did they or my case manager acknowledge my health spiralling downwards, let alone express concern. The minister and the department also ignored an ombudsman's investigation and recommendations in terms of our son's care.
To date, it has cost VAC more than $75,000 to treat the consequences of denying less than $75 a day for our son's care. The provincial health care system has paid a similar bill.
Why would VAC seek retaliation? The culture is embedded with an animus towards any veteran who dares criticize the department. When the minister published his article, VAC official Tim Brown wrote, “a minister who will counter and go on the offensive, I've been waiting for this for years”.
Meanwhile, in response to the more than 50 emails and letters requiring decisions to be made by Walter Natynczyk, Bernard Butler, Michel Doiron and Steven Harris, access to information disclosures reveal there was no document trail. These individuals snub their noses at Canada's requirement to have an accountable government with transparent decisions. They carry out their work in the murky and highly unethical world of recordless or verbal government.
There are others who see nothing wrong with intruding upon my privacy. Christian Lachance, an official in no way connected with VAC's appeals division, was notified before me of the appeal outcome. He immediately informed director general of field operations Maryse Savoie as well as Graham Williams, writing that the appeal decision would be unfavourable, and as a result of the decision, “this may escalate”. Maryse Savoie responded quickly that she would inform Michel Doiron's office. The Privacy Commissioner has an open investigation into this matter.
VAC has a long history of enmity towards me. The 2010 privacy scandal demonstrated that 20,000 pages about me, including falsified portrayals of my finances, character and mental health, circulated among more than 850 bureaucrats.
However, a subsequent request of 230 bureaucrats, who monitored my media activities, took seven years to resolve. The result was 2.1 million pages.
I'm also a veteran who struggles on a daily basis with psychological and physical adversity resulting from my military service. I'm a husband to a wonderful woman who gave up much in her country of origin to be with me. Our son's keen awareness to the suffering of others weighs heavily on him.
When will public servants see the difference between my personal life and my volunteer work? When will they debate facts rather than obsess, scrutinize and attack me? When will they stop hiding behind secretive government practices, showing scorn for oversight agencies, while targeting a six-year-old child? We must wonder whether retaliation against other veterans and their families is standard procedure—or are we the unfortunate ones?
What is clear is that VAC senior managers show the hallmarks of cultivating a toxic culture. While they have little concern for frontline workers, they show disdain for veterans. Senior VAC officials hide behind inflexible rules with groundless interpretations divorced from the lives of veterans and their families. They prioritize evasive communication, fear, condescension, neglect, secrecy, bullying, gaslighting and shaming.
Should veterans question the culture and its policies, these toxic tools are coordinated in a comprehensive attack upon the messenger, and sometimes the messenger's children. These are not the government actions worthy of the hundreds of thousands of sacrifices made in Canada's name.
Thank you, Chair.