Evidence of meeting #7 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 branches.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you very much. I'm afraid that's time, sir.
Up next, we have MP Desilets, for two and a half minutes, please.
5 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Two and a half minutes is not a lot.
Ms. Lowther, I admire the work you do. You say about a hundred volunteers used to work for your organization and that number has fallen to 10. I am stunned.
In your view, how much government assistance would you need to maintain your services, which I believe are essential?
5 p.m.
Chair and Co-founder, VETS Canada
Thank you for that question.
As I mentioned earlier, the $850,000 is certainly going to help us over the next year. Our issue is the long term.
As I mentioned in my statement, we only have six paid staff members, so we have to constantly be sourcing out revenue streams, looking for grant applications and that sort of thing. Then it usually falls to me, or getting a qualified volunteer to help with those grant applications. Those things are time-consuming.
For us, if we had ongoing long-term funding, that would take a huge, huge strain off of our organization.
5 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Ms. Lowther, what would your financial needs be to maintain the same conditions you had a few months ago?
5 p.m.
Chair and Co-founder, VETS Canada
Right now I would say that our biggest financial needs are to be able to provide the food and the rent and those sorts of things for veterans.
As I mentioned, the $850,000 would be sufficient for a year. Normally in the run of a year, we would spend more than $1 million, so we'll have to make that up somehow.
5 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Perfect, you have answered clearly.
My last question is for Mr. Clark.
Would it be possible for us to see how the millions of dollars will be distributed in each of the legions?
5 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I will be brief, Mr. Chair.
I would like to see a document that shows the amounts distributed per legion.
Is that possible, Mr. Clark?
5:05 p.m.
National Executive Director, Royal Canadian Legion
Absolutely. On the 7th of December, we'll be sharing with Veterans Affairs a spreadsheet of all the branches receiving funding and to what level.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Excellent. Thank you for that.
Now over to MP Blaney, for two and a half minutes, please.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
What we've heard very clearly is that during COVID-19, the number of our aging veterans in isolation has only grown, and that is a concern for me as well.
If I could, I'll start with you, Mr. Clark. Moving into the next year or so, we don't know how long this pandemic is going to unfold. We know that the financial burden has been challenging for all Legions across Canada. I'm just wondering if you could talk about what this will mean for the ability to have services for veterans, especially veterans who are aging, incredibly isolated and vulnerable to COVID-19.
5:05 p.m.
National Executive Director, Royal Canadian Legion
The really encouraging thing we have seen throughout this whole pandemic has been the ability for Legion members to volunteer to make sure they maintain that contact with veterans in their community, especially aged veterans, in contacting them on a daily or weekly basis.
I think of the gentleman in southern Alberta, a 98-year-old Second World War veteran, who every day would go to his Legion branch simply to have a cup of coffee and play checkers. He doesn't have that ability anymore, but people in that community know him, know what he used to do and know what he needs and are reaching out that way. We're seeing all across the country that individuals are volunteering their time and making sure they maintain social contact, even when physical distancing can't be had.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you.
Again, that's why Legions are so important. They're like the heartbeat of our communities. In Campbell River, we had a small Remembrance Day ceremony, and it amazed me how many veterans in their nineties came and socially distanced and sat in their cars to be there for that. I just want to respect them.
If I could go to you, Ms. Lowther, could you talk about the same thing? What will be the impact in the long term?
5:05 p.m.
Chair and Co-founder, VETS Canada
On the long-term impact, it's going to take us a while to catch up, with what we've had to endure over the past eight months.
With regard to the older veterans you're speaking of and their social isolation, it's something that we've seen an awful lot of ourselves, especially with our drop-in centres. We have veterans who, as part of their regular routine, come to the drop-in centre to socialize, and they're not able to do that anymore, so we're having to come up with other creative ways to be able to maintain that social interaction.
We have a Guitars for Vets program that we offer as well. We've had to adapt that a bit, but luckily that program actually has been extremely busy with people who have a lot of time on their hands all of a sudden. We've been able to still provide guitar lessons via Zoom, Skype and that sort of thing. That has definitely helped with the social isolation.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you very much. That's time.
Up next we have MP Wagantall, please, for five minutes.
November 23rd, 2020 / 5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Thank you, Chair.
I too come from an area that is very rural, and our Legions play a very important role. I keep telling them that they're going to have to vote me in for many years hence before I can get to all of our Remembrance Day services that I would love to participate in.
I want to focus right now on you, Deb, and your drop-in support centres. I had the opportunity to go to the one on Besserer Street in Ottawa a couple of months after it opened. At that point, it was indicated to me that 65 veterans had already been referred from VAC to that particular facility for emergency help. The ability for you to assist them in so many ways very quickly was not lost on case managers, and now you indicate that 77% of your cases are coming from VAC. I'm wondering how exactly this works with their emergency fund that is there to assist veterans.
I know that it takes them much longer to get that money out the door, as you mentioned, but you also mentioned that they helped you to keep your staff. Is that the fund that this money came from—that actual emergency support fund—to keep your staff on, or did I misunderstand what you said there?
5:05 p.m.
Chair and Co-founder, VETS Canada
With regard, first of all, to the caseload coming from Veterans Affairs and their emergency fund, you're right. It does take them a little longer to get those funds into the hands of veterans, and that's when we work kind of in tandem with them. We'll take care of the emergency needs and they'll look after the longer-term sort of thing. Also, the criteria for their emergency funds is a little more strict than what we would require.
For the funding for our staff members, we have been lucky with the emergency wage subsidy. That was definitely helpful.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Okay, so that's where those funds came from then.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
I'm so pleased you were able to get that support. Are you able now to cover those wages and get your administrator back? What are you looking at going forward as far as that crucial staff goes?
5:10 p.m.
Chair and Co-founder, VETS Canada
Yes. In addition to the wage subsidy, which, as I said, has been very helpful, part of the most recent funding, the veterans organizations emergency support fund, was to assist with our staffing. We will also be getting an administrator back. Unfortunately, the one we had found another job. We are in the market for a new administrator, but, to be fair, we could use a lot more staff. As I said, there are six paid staff across the country and we're dealing with upwards of 200 veterans a month.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
I hear you.
You're receiving $850,000 of the $6 million that was earmarked here for organizations outside of the Legion. I do appreciate that the Legion did not receive what it asked for, but of the $6 million, of the $850,000, you indicated that you got $840,000 for the prior 18 months. That's around $46,660 per month. That money goes to the veterans programming to help those veterans. Is there money from that fund that's going to the administrative side or is that covered through your charitable giving and that type of thing?
5:10 p.m.
Chair and Co-founder, VETS Canada
No, some of that money does go to the administrative side, along with donations.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
What was the impact of finding yourself in the circumstance of having no budget and knowing that you would continue to not have a budget? Can you talk about the difference between receiving this funding now, which I understand is very helpful, and the uncertainty of not knowing what you have to work with going forward? Is that what you were trying to express as well?