Evidence of meeting #31 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 dogs.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
What international accreditation process have you gone through, and are you accredited with the ability to accredit service dog organizations for mental health curriculums?
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, The Canadian Foundation for Animal-Assisted Support Services
With respect to accreditation, you can't accredit anybody until there's an actual national standard in Canada. That's the first point.
Second, our organization is working with an accreditation body that will—
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, The Canadian Foundation for Animal-Assisted Support Services
That's HRSO, the Human Research Standards Organization. They're accredited by the Standards Council of Canada. Service dog organizations, or SDOs, are the only ones able to actually write the standards, because they're part of the criteria that I mentioned, the international process that must be followed. We're going to be working with them to develop these standards.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm very pleased to be here with you.
I want to say to our veterans that we're always very happy to welcome you. Your sharing of information and your years of service are very valuable. I was going to pass a question to Ms. Moss, but I think most of it has been addressed by my colleague, so I'll transfer that question to Mr. Lapointe.
I know that you are currently working with Meliora Service Dogs, but you also work with Audeamus, and I apologize for my pronunciation.
During your testimony, you alluded to the fact that there are many groups and not-for-profits in the field right now, and various approaches and interests. Maybe I can ask you this question: How would you recommend that VAC assess an organization for credibility if it develops standards for accreditation?
4:45 p.m.
Certified Trainer, Meliora Service Dogs
That is a really difficult answer to give, because you need to know who you're talking to most of the time. There have been big names announced here today who shouldn't be on this committee because of what they did to other veterans. You need to know who you're talking to, so do a background check to make sure that this person's program—this provider—is legit and doing the right things. I would say start with that.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Mr. Lapointe, which name would you recommend? Would you be comfortable sharing those thoughts with us?
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
I mean an organization that you feel could possibly be part of the group. You're saying that there are some names that shouldn't be, and you're sort of alluding—
4:45 p.m.
Certified Trainer, Meliora Service Dogs
It's like Ms. Moss mentioned: There's corruption everywhere, right? It's even in our branch here when we're talking today. I'm not going to recommend an organization per se. What I'm saying is to do your homework—as a person, as a veteran, as an MLA, as a government person. Do your study. Where does this guy come from? Where did he get his experience? Who did he train? What's his success rate? If it's 100%, he's lying, right? I am talking about things like that. I've got hundreds of questions. If you want, I can send them to you. They're about how to ask questions of an organization.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Thank you very much. As we develop those recommendations, we may take you up on that.
What risks are there for veterans seeking service dogs without a national policy for accreditation?
4:50 p.m.
Certified Trainer, Meliora Service Dogs
First off, way before getting there, is this person healthy enough to take care of a live animal? That's right from the start. We need to implement an interview process, a home visit, and make sure that the environment is also safe for that service dog. Is that person ready right now to get a service dog? He or she might not be ready for years. It's not just a fixing a problem thing. A dog is a lot of responsibility, and not every veteran can afford one or take care of one.
It's not an answer to the injury. It's helpful. It's a tool to help you get better in order to get to the next level, which is regaining dignity and confidence and socializing, etc.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Maybe I can put the same question to Ms. Moss or to Sergeant Webb. How would you recommend that VAC assess an organization for credibility if it has developed standards for accreditation?
4:50 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, The Canadian Foundation for Animal-Assisted Support Services
First of all, before you can look at accreditation, there needs to be a standard to accredit to, as I mentioned. That means a standard that develops the requirements. The procedure to achieve those requirements is a totally different document.
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
Veterans Affairs Canada needs to stay out of the service dog world, period. It's not the job of Veterans Affairs to get involved with the service dog world. It will work itself out, I believe, through this independent process and a national standards process. Accreditation is a whole different ball game with regard to standards.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Would you give it to a third party? Could you continue elaborating for me?
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
Once a national standard comes out, an accreditation process can begin. I would leave it up to the individuals to do their research and then make an informed decision. There's so much information right now, and so much misinformation on the web right now, that it's impossible to make an informed decision.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for your loyal service, Mr. Webb, Mr. Fleury and Mr. Lapointe.
My first question is for you, Mr. Lapointe.
You're probably aware that the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs covers almost all the dog‑related costs. I'm talking about training fees, incidentals and other after‑the‑fact fees.
In your opinion, should the same thing happen here?
