Veterans Affairs Committee on May 3rd, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excellent. Thank you.

Next, we have MP Desilets for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Clark, what you are telling us is really fascinating.

I would like some clarification. The government injected $14 million into the veterans organizations emergency support fund.

In your opinion, was that enough money? Did it meet the demand?

[Steven Clark]

No, the Legion had sought $30 million. Fourteen million dollars is a substantial sum and we will certainly do what we can with it, but it was not to the level we were hoping.

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

In that case, could you enlighten me?

There is never enough money. I understand you and I know that the needs are great.

There are two Legion branches in my riding. They are both suffering and continue to suffer even though they have received small amounts of money from that investment. The needs are there and you were hoping to receive more money.

So can you explain why you said that you would not seek more investments?

[Steven Clark]

Absolutely. Once we finish this third and final disbursement of the original $14 million, we will do a triage of our branches to find out what their financial state is. So far, we have only determined which ones are open and which are closed. We need to find out the financial viability of these branches before we develop our plans for moving forward.

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

From your understanding of the situation, about how many Legion branches are in extreme danger? By that I mean branches that are closed or about to be closed.

[Steven Clark]

We had the viability—not the financial but the viability—of our branches assessed just recently. Of almost 1,400 branches, 661 were in high need of more financial assistance, so we are focusing on those 661 branches.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Clark.

I have no more questions, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

Up next, we have MP Blaney for two and a half minutes.

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

I also want to acknowledge that you have had to answer questions for one whole hour. I really appreciate that.

I represent, of course, 11 Legions in my riding. A lot of them are in very small communities, and they are all astonishing in the support they provide and the work they do in those communities. They are an essential part of the community—often the heartbeat.

I'm just wondering if you could share a bit. I'm curious about whether the Legion has an opportunity to share best practices around how it organizes different forms of remembrance. I know capacity can sometimes be a challenge. Some of our Legions are fierce but aging. I'm just curious about how we can support them as they go through these really important and sometimes frightening transitions, like COVID.

I know you guys are doing your best to keep everybody's energy up and to keep them hopeful. You're dealing with limited resources to help keep them stable, because we definitely want them here. Could you just speak to how you share best practices around things that are working in terms of remembrance?

[Steven Clark]

That is so important. In advance of last year's remembrance period, we asked all of our provincial commands to gather information from their branches about what they were doing and how they were remembering. We put all that information on our website. We shared it through what's called an “all-branch email communication”, so that we all knew what everybody was doing.

There are so many good ideas, and we need to share them. Nobody wants to keep them close to their chest. They want to share what they are doing. This is a great opportunity to do that.

We've also reached out to our fraternal international partners, the Royal British Legion and the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association, to find out exactly what they are doing. We can share organizationally what others are doing when faced with a similar situation. We can give branches ideas.

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

I appreciate that, and that was my last question. I would like to say, though, that I very much appreciated how quickly the Legion responded to get us some beautiful masks. I was so proud to be able to purchase a bunch of them, to hand them out to people and to make sure we remembered. Thank you for responding to COVID so quickly.

Thank you.

[Steven Clark]

It was our pleasure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much, MP Blaney.

I was hoping to stop there. Unless anybody has any objections, I have a few committee business things to go over. We do have a few minutes, though.

I have MP Wagantall next on the list. Do you have a quick question?

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

No. I'm fine.

I just want to say that I come from a rural riding with a gazillion Legions, and I've told them they're going to have to vote me in for years and years to come so that I can get to every one of those Remembrance Day services, because they're just so precious.

Thank you for what you do, Steven. I appreciate it.

[Steven Clark]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

That's a good sentiment to end on.

I want to thank you, Mr. Clark. That was definitively yeoman's work to get through that whole hour by yourself.

I represent the riding of Cambridge, the home of the great painter, David Soffa, and the portraits of honour. I'm sure you've had an opportunity to meet him and see his work. He of course is struggling right now, as he's fighting stage 4 cancer, but if there's any way to include him in your conversations about Remembrance Day events this coming Remembrance Day, I'd be happy to have that conversation.

I thank my colleagues for their indulgence there.

Thank you very much, Mr. Clark, for being with us.

For the committee, I have two quick items before we are dismissed.

We have a proposed budget in the amount of $2,500 for our next study on service dogs for veterans. Are we good to adopt that budget? Are there any objections?

There are no objections.

Also, speaking of that, we need to set up a deadline for witnesses. What I'm suggesting is that it be no later than Thursday, May 6, at 4 p.m., which is this Thursday. Is that enough time for folks to get their witnesses in? We can move that a bit, but we have to move to get those witnesses ready to go. Are there any objections to the May 6 proposal?

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

Mr. Chair, I don't think so, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm wondering if we could put it on the Friday. It would make a big difference for us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Mr. Clerk, is there a reason we can't do it on Friday?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Benoit Jolicoeur]

Friday should be fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excellent. Thank you very much, everybody. It was a great meeting.

If you've noticed, I have a new standing desk and this is my first meeting not sitting throughout the meeting. I will be sitting shortly.

Thank you very much, everybody, and thanks to all the folks in Ottawa who allowed us to be heard during today's meeting.