Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 23rd, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Welcome to meeting number 7 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.

I am going to skip all of the preamble today.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on October 27, the committee is commencing its study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial health of veterans organizations.

Welcome to all of the witnesses who have taken the time to join us today.

We have with us from the Royal Canadian Legion, Steven Clark, national executive director, and Lynda Mifflin of the Legion in Gold River; and from VETS Canada, we are joined today by Debbie Lowther, chair and co-founder.

For the witnesses' sake, let me say that you will each have five minutes for opening remarks. When you get down to one minute, I will hold my finger up. Don't panic: a minute is a long time to wrap up your thoughts.

As well, when we get into questions from Members of Parliament, I will also give the one-minute warning—keeping in mind that I try to be as liberal as possible with the time and give people an opportunity.

I see that Rachel Blaney thought that was funny. Nobody else did. Thanks, Rachel.

We'll try to give everyone the opportunity to get their messages out and their questions answered.

First up, for the first five minutes, is Mr. Steven Clark, national executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion.

The next five minutes is all yours, sir.

[Steven Clark, National Executive Director, Royal Canadian Legion]

Thank you very much for the invitation to the Royal Canadian Legion to appear before you today.

The Legion is a large national organization united around a common vision. For the first time in our almost 100 years of existence in serving veterans in Canada, we faced a challenge of our individual and collective financial health brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak. The Legion branches, being that we are a dues-based organization, fund their own operating expenses through membership, which is supplemented by revenue from such things as their clubhouse and restaurant sales and hall rentals.

Since March of this year, those revenue streams have pretty much dried up. Until recently, the Legion had never sought nor received government financial assistance for our operations. That reach-out, therefore, on April 28 and again on June 3, was unprecedented. It was a very difficult decision, but it was necessary for the survival of the Royal Canadian Legion.

The government had introduced a variety of funding programs to assist not-for-profits, among them the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency business account loan, but few branches were eligible for these existing programs.

When it was announced, the emergency community support fund seemed to be exactly what was needed, but that program funded projects designed to help those in vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 crisis. Again, an organization's operational expenses could not be funded.

Similarly, regional relief and recovery funding through six regional development agencies was suggested as a funding option by both federal and provincial governments, but these programs specifically state that not-for-profits are ineligible.

Further, the announcement of $83 million for the resilient communities fund managed by the Ontario Trillium Foundation was only for new program costs to recover and rebuild from COVID-19 and not, again, for operational costs.

How much financial trouble, then, were branches in? There are 1,381 Legion branches, 1,347 of them in Canada. Their viability and sustainability was triaged in June, July and September to determine their financial health, to assess what branches were facing, how they were managing and, unfortunately, which ones would close.

The results remained fairly consistent across the three assessment periods, and they were not encouraging. One hundred and fifty-nine branches indicated that they would be unable to open or would close within three months of opening, and 21 have now closed. Three hundred and twenty-nine indicated they would open but would struggle financially. Two hundred and fifty-four branches applied for existing relief programs. One hundred and eighty-six received that assistance, and 30 were declined.

The resurgence of COVID-19 cases has brought further temporary branch closures and will bring added financial stress as branches try to persevere and overcome the losses from the first few months of the outbreak to prevent their going over the financial cliff.

In May, the Legion's Dominion Executive Council released $3 million from national reserves to provide grants to branches in need. It helped stave off imminent closures, but struggles continued. It was hard to stay calm and carry on.

With a lack of response to approaches to government for assistance, innovation grew from within to ensure that the lifeline network for veterans and communities nation-wide continued unabated.

That lifeline included our commitment to eradicating and preventing veterans' homelessness, providing benevolent comforting care to veterans, offering benevolent and disability application assistance, providing emergency funding, offering resources and referrals to support transition and mental health, providing financial support to hospitals and care facilities, and youth group sponsorships.

The innovation included setting up GoFundMe pages, bottle drives, preparing and serving hot meals, offering drive-through meals and having online live music parties.

Operationally we held virtual “buddy check” coffee meetings and implemented or enhanced modernizations for the annual poppy campaign, re-offered digital poppies and revised commemorations to respect restrictions.

The Legion is appreciative of the veterans organization emergency support fund announced on 10 November and the $14 million allocated to Legion branches in Canada. The application process is already under way, with initial disbursements to take place on 21 December and with future disbursements scheduled for 2021. This funding will definitely help branches.

The road ahead is not without financial and operational uncertainty. Regardless of what our branches have faced or have yet to face, what is certain is that our commitment and obligation to serving Canada's veterans, their families and our communities will continue. The cost of not doing so is unimaginable.

Mr. Chair, the Legion thanks you for this opportunity to make this presentation as part of this important study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much, Mr. Clark.

We're now going over for another five minutes to Ms. Lynda Mifflin, from the Gold River Legion, branch 270. The next five minutes is all yours.

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

I think there might be some technical difficulties.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Ms. Mifflin, can you hear us at all? Yes, the screen looks frozen. Maybe the techs can reach out to her.

We'll move on to Debbie Lowther, chair and co-founder of VETS Canada.

You may go ahead, Ms. Lowther.

[Debbie Lowther, Chair and Co-founder, VETS Canada]

Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. I'm happy to provide you with some insight into the impact that COVID-19 has had on the financial well-being of VETS Canada. For those of you who are not aware of who VETS Canada is, I will provide a brief introduction to our organization first.

VETS Canada is a federally registered charity whose mission is to provide assistance to veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP who are homeless, at risk of becoming homeless or otherwise in crisis.

We were founded in 2010 and have hundreds of dedicated volunteers across the country who provide immediate support to veterans. We also operate three drop-in and support centres across the country, one in Ottawa, one that is co-located with our headquarters here in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and one in Edmonton that is operated by VETS Canada on behalf of the Government of Alberta.

To date, we have responded to almost 12,000 requests for assistance from veterans and their families from coast to coast, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. Requests for assistance come to us in a variety of ways, through our 1-888 phone line, our website or our social media platforms. Some are self-referrals from veterans themselves, and some come from other organizations or agencies. Over the past year, an average of 77% of all of our referrals came from Veterans Affairs Canada case managers.

I was once told that support is a big word with many meanings, so I will elaborate on what I mean when I say that we provide support to the veterans.

In the event that we encounter a veteran who is homeless, we immediately move the veteran from the streets by providing temporary accommodations, usually in a motel or a hotel. We provide food and clothing, and we assist that veteran in finding permanent housing, at which time we will cover the first month's rent and a deposit, and we will provide furniture to help the veteran become established in their new home.

We prevent homelessness for those veterans who are at risk of losing their housing by helping with arrears rent to avoid evictions. We pay hydro and other utilities bills to prevent disconnection.

These are just a few examples of the support we provide, but being a small organization without strict regulations, we often have the luxury to provide many other outside-of-the-box supports as well. I would say that food insecurity is the most prevalent need we have seen. However, as a result of the pandemic, housing issues have certainly risen.

Since 2014, we have received funding from the Government of Canada. From 2014 to 2018, we were under contract with Veterans Affairs Canada, and from 2018 until the end of March of this year, we were funded through its family well-being fund. Until two weeks ago, we hadn't received any federal funding since the end of March. As you know, at that time, COVID-19 had begun to seriously affect the lives of all Canadians, including veterans.

By the end of March, we closed our three drop-in support centres and our headquarters to the public, and our staff worked from home, responding to requests for assistance from veterans. Fortunately, there were many things we were able to do remotely to support veterans with no physical contact, and in the event that in-person support was required, many of our dedicated volunteers were willing to meet with veterans while taking all necessary precautions.

In spite of the drop-in centres and headquarters being closed, we still had to pay rent and utilities, and veterans still required assistance.

Over the past eight months, we have seen an increase in the number of veterans who have required assistance, but, sadly and yet understandably, we have seen a decrease in donations from kind, caring Canadians. Specifically, the requests for assistance increased by 36% compared to the same time period last year, and our donations decreased by 41%.

Keeping up with the overhead and the requests for assistance with an all but non-existent revenue stream was extremely difficult, and there were times over the past few months that we thought we would have to shut down. As the only veteran-serving organization aside from Veterans Affairs that was fully operational and open to provide support during this difficult time, we couldn't allow that to happen.

We are an organization with a very small staff of only six paid employees across the country, five who provide direct support to veterans and one administrative staff person. We are fortunate that I fill the role of executive director without taking a paycheque. In spite of that, we did have to make the difficult decision to lay off our administrator in October, and I took on that role as well. Had we not recently received funds from the veterans organizations emergency support fund we would have had to lay off more people.

VETS Canada began 10 years ago because we identified a gap. We discovered that many veterans had not successfully transitioned to civilian life and were slipping through the cracks. Our aim was to fill that gap and to provide a safety net for veterans. We know that we have saved lives and have helped hundreds of families to stay together. Therefore, we know that, had we been forced to close due to our financial insecurity directly related to COVID-19, it would have had a deep impact on the lives of our most vulnerable veterans. This, in turn, would have had an impact on the case load at Veterans Affairs.

As Canada moves into the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many veterans barely surviving the first wave, we know that we will continue to receive more and more requests for assistance, but we will continue to do everything we can with what we have to respond to those requests.

In closing, with regard to the impact that COVID-19 has had on the financial health of VETS Canada, in the past 10 years, we never felt the threat of closure until we had to deal with the effect the pandemic has had on the lives of veterans in need.

Mr. Chair, thank you. I'm happy to answer questions from the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much, including for the work you do with veterans on the ground. It's much appreciated by this committee.

I understand that we have back with us Ms. Lynda Mifflin, Gold River Legion, branch 270.

I understand that the Internet connection is not the greatest where you are, so we'll do our best. The next five minutes is all yours.

[Lynda Mifflin, Bar Manager, Gold River Legion, Royal Canadian Legion]

Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the House of Commons committee on Veterans Affairs. It is both an honour and a privilege to participate in this study of the Royal Canadian Legion and other veteran organizations and their financial health during and after COVID-19.

My name is Lynda Mifflin, and I am representing branch 270 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Gold River, B.C., located on the west coast of beautiful Vancouver Island on the traditional lands of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. Our nearest urban centre is more than 100 kilometres to the east. We are a picturesque community of approximately 1,300 people situated at the gateway to historic Nootka Sound. Our branch has a membership of about 185 members, of which 35 are veterans.

Prior to COVID-19, we were an active branch, open seven days a week and featuring a full calendar of activities including meat draws, darts, food service, bingo, pool and live entertainment. We were able to provide the following: an environment of camaraderie for veterans, their families and our members; assistance and support to veterans, their families and all our members during illness or injury; assistance and support for veterans, their families and our members in accessing benefits available through the Royal Canadian Legion and Remembrance Day services.

Community events included community Easter egg hunts, a Canada Day barbeque, Gold River days, annual Legion golf tournaments, community Christmas parties with free food and entertainment, pancake breakfasts, and participation in parades. We also hosted dances for Valentine's, New Year's Eve and other similar events, as we have the only dance floor in our community. We hosted birthday parties, celebrations of life and wedding receptions, and rented for little or, in many cases, no charge.

We provide funding for veterans and their families to assist in expenses associated with end of life. Annually, between the branch and our ladies auxiliary, through fundraising and events, we provide thousands of dollars to our veterans, their families and the community at large, through means such as supporting minor hockey, ice skating, the local food bank and bursaries for deserving students, along with the continued support of other Legion venues such as Broadmead Care.

We provide financial assistance to veterans, their families and members of the community who require assistance to travel to seek medical attention outside of our area, and to individuals travelling for sports and other activities. Fundraising allowed us to provide many community events, including food and entertainment; to work with our first nations groups to support educational opportunities; and to inject money into the local economy by supporting local businesses wherever possible.

We provide a portion of our building to veterans' and seniors' activities at a significantly reduced rate, and they in turn provide social activities, and have recently started to provide food hampers in coordination with other community groups.

When COVID-19 arrived, our doors were closed from mid-March until mid-June, during which time we developed our safety plan, modified our space to meet requirements for social distancing, and put in place many measures to protect the health and safety of our veterans, members, staff, volunteers and guests.

Our current situation is that our hours of operation have been reduced to three days a week, from seven. Our member attendance is down dramatically. Our gross revenue has fallen by 80%—a loss of revenue from B.C. Lotteries and Gaming due to decreased hours and reduced attendance.

Currently, due to COVID-19, volunteers are unwilling or unable to come out and provide services to our veterans, their families and our community, due to risks of exposure. We depend on volunteers and staff to keep our branch operating. We have paid staff only for bar service and custodial work. Volunteers make up the majority of our services to the community.

During our reduced hours, veterans and members are unable to socialize. Current public health orders prohibit us from hosting meat draws, 50/50 draws, darts, pool, cards, food service or any other events.

Currently, COVID-19 is restricting our ability to provide or assist veterans, their families, our members and others in our community in the following ways:

We are not able to provide transportation to medical appointments, whether in town or further down the island; to shop for groceries; or to meet other needs, due to a decrease in volunteers. It is inhibiting our ability to check-in and interact with our veterans and members who are suffering as a result of the isolation. It is hampering our ability to provide low-cost meals to our veterans and members. Without any events or fundraising activities, we are unable to be open enough hours to keep our regular staff gainfully employed, including the relatives of veterans who are employed here.

COVID-19 has affected many other services we are known for, namely Remembrance Day services, Canada Day celebrations and many other community events.

The suspension of normal Remembrance Day services has impacted us and our community, with past residents not travelling to participate. There was a loss of visitations with veterans who reside here and a loss of family time. There was a loss of revenue for us, our local hotels, restaurants, shops and stores. Our poppy campaign was compromised because we do not have the resources that larger urban areas have to accommodate poppy tagging.

In conclusion, Legions are an integral part of communities of our size and they provide a variety of important services and resources to veterans, their families and our communities as a whole. The lack of revenue as a result of COVID-19 jeopardizes those activities and our relationship with our community. Prior to COVID-19, we were an active branch providing resources to veterans, their families, our members and guests. Currently, we are struggling to meet the challenges of keeping our doors open during this pandemic. Indeed, our future is hanging in the wind. The lack of revenue and fundraising is putting the long-term viability of our branch and the work we do post COVID-19 very much in question.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much.

I'm glad we were able to hear you, if not see you. Clearly we have some more work to do on the broadband out in Victoria. I want to thank both you and Mr. Clark for the work you guys do. We all have Legions in our ridings, and they're amazing cornerstones in our communities.

For the first round of questions, we have the Conservative Party.

MP John Brassard, you have six minutes, sir.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank all of the guests and the witnesses who've come before us.

This is an important study because all MPs, regardless of what party we're affiliated with, are hearing the concern within veterans' organizations, service organizations and community organizations, just how grave the situation is with respect not just to raising funds, but also to covering the expenses associated with the closures.

My first question is for you, Mr. Clark. On September 4, Dominion President Irvine wrote an open letter to all parliamentarians, in which he said, “I am witnessing extreme stress...over the possibility of Legion branches disappearing”. The initial request months ago from Dominion Command was for $30 million in funding, which would be required to alleviate a lot of the stress these branches are facing.

How difficult is the problem going to be with only $14 million in funding?

[Steven Clark]

Mr. Brassard, we will certainly manage. Again, we appreciate the money that we have been provided through the VOESF. The $30 million was based on expenses that a branch would have incurred in the initial five months of the closure. Based on that average expenditure, $5,000 times 1,347 branches times the number of months they were closed for brought it up to approximately $34 million, minus the $3 million we had already provided. That would have been a start.

This has gone on a little bit longer. We have about half of what we had been hoping for, but we will manage as well as we can and we appreciate that money.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

With regard to the $3 million in reserves that the Royal Canadian Legion provided as an emergency relief to many of these Legions, are you planning on replenishing those reserves at Dominion Command or are you going to forgo those reserves, Mr. Clark?

[Steven Clark]

We will forgo those reserves. The $14 million received will be for Legion branches only.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

One of the things you mentioned was that there were Legions across the country that didn't have the opportunity to access some of the benefits, whether the emergency business account.... In meetings that you and I have had—and I've also met with provincial commands in B.C., Yukon, Alberta and Manitoba—we've discussed the difficulty with some of the tax-filing situations they're facing right now. I know my colleague Mr. Lawrence has asked the minister to intervene in this regard, but I'm wondering if you can briefly—because I do also have a question for Ms. Lowther—talk about the situation some of these smaller Legions are facing with respect to their tax situation.

[Steven Clark]

Absolutely.

I was approached, in fact, today, by a branch in Nova Scotia that had filed their T2 with CRA and received a response that they could not accept that filing because the branch was neither registered nor incorporated. Our Legion branches are not incorporated. The organization, as an entity, is incorporated, but not the individual Legion branches. That poses a problem.

If a requirement to get funding through the CEBA loan program requires you to be incorporated, our branches aren't. That poses a problem.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Thank you.

I think that's an important thing for the committee to consider as we move forward, perhaps as part of our recommendations, with respect to the situation that Mr. Clark just outlined.

Ms. Lowther, thank you so much for joining us this morning. I can't begin to appreciate the work you've done and the stress you have been under over the course of the last several months.

I know that you did receive funding in the latest announcement—from the passing of Bill C-4—to the tune of somewhere around $850,000. Is that correct? In a year, what money would VETS Canada typically receive from Veterans Affairs Canada to facilitate its operations and the great work you do for veterans?

[Debbie Lowther]

The $850,000 we received is actually the largest sum of money we have received from the federal government. Our funding prior to that, through the veteran family well-being fund, was $840,000 for an 18-month period. We're definitely in a better situation with this $850,000.

However, given the increased number of veterans coming forward, I guess we're in the same boat really, if you measure it that way.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Can you speak about the impact on veterans and their families?

I noticed that on September 24 VETS Canada issued a tweet about CERB ending in six days. You know you will be swamped with requests to help veterans and their families nationwide. Unfortunately, we haven't had any federal funding since March.

Can you talk about the impact you've seen on veterans and their families as a result, not just the work that you haven't been able to do, but also anecdotally from other organizations as well?

[Debbie Lowther]

A lot of the veterans who have come our way were receiving the CERB payments. We've had a few who, once that ended, were in dire straights. We also had a few who weren't actually entitled to those CERB payments, so they're going to have to pay those back. Then we've also had veterans who were in a second career or subsidizing their pensions by working part time. A lot of them were laid off, lost their employment because of COVID. Again, we're looking at supporting those veterans as well.

With regard to not having any funding since the end of March, we were under the impression that we would not be very long without funding. Unfortunately, a budget was not tabled in March of this year, so there was no vehicle with which to provide us that funding. We keep waiting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Is that it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much. That's time.

Thank you, sir.

Now we'll go over, for six minutes, to MP Lalonde, please.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

It's always a pleasure to see some of you. Also welcome to Madam Mifflin too—as a witness anyway. That's a first introduction. Welcome.

I want to say thank you for all the work that's been done. You've reflected clearly on something that I think no one expected last March, and the impact on many individuals, including our veterans and particularly the homeless.

Mr. Clark, if I may say, I know locally the announcement for the $14 million was well received, and certainly branch 632 has done great work in trying to expand on other avenues of revenue.

I know it's not the case for all the Legions, and I'm certainly very appreciative of the testimony by Ms. Mifflin...but maybe Mr. Clark, tell me, as the money will be flowing, what is the current plan for this funding across our great Legions?

[Steven Clark]

Thanks very much, Madam.

The $14 million is going to be disbursed, as I've said, in a couple of disbursements this year and in 2021. There are 11 specific categories that the funding can be used for. We are not replacing lost revenue, unfortunately. We are looking to pay expenses that the branches have incurred.

The 11 categories, such as property tax, insurance, rent or mortgage, utilities, are the main things that the branches have been saying they need help with. That's what the funds will be used for across the country for branches in need. Not every branch will receive the funding.

Again, we are doing triage. If you're in need you will get it. If you can get by without it, please do so to help other branches that are in a greater need situation.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Thank you.

You did mention that some of the branches were eligible for some of the existing government programs, and some were not. I know that here the wage subsidy was used. Are there aspects you've heard from other Legions as to why they did not qualify for either the CEBA or the wage subsidy?