Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 25th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you, Mr. Gimblett. I'm going to have to interrupt you there, I'm afraid.

[Mike Gimblett]

Yes. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

We'll come back, hopefully, in another question so you can finish your thoughts there.

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

The floor is yours, sir.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to ask you a few brief questions, Mr. Gimblett.

Can you summarize how your organization differs from a legion?

[Mike Gimblett]

We are completely independent. We're made up of air force veterans. We have about 20 members of the Royal Canadian Air Force Association. We do have Legion members who also have membership with us. We are a totally independent club building on the heritage. We were founded in 1948 by returning air force veterans, so we've just continued. Children of veterans have become members. We still have some remaining World War II veterans and veterans of past service in the Canadian Armed Forces.

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

Would you say that what you offer complements what the legions offer?

[Mike Gimblett]

People have membership with us and with the Legion. We have some of those people. We also have the Ontario regiment. Their officers' mess is closed and they've been told it will not reopen, so people who are members of the officers' mess have come to us now and have become members with us. We're a very inclusive club. We're open to everybody, and we want to maintain and preserve our heritage.

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

You said earlier that there was no program that you could fit into to get grants, given the COVID-19 pandemic. Did I understand you correctly?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Could we have a very brief answer, please?

[Mike Gimblett]

Because of our large number of volunteers, we did not meet the payroll requirements for the CEBA. None of the other programs we have looked at apply to us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you, sir.

MP Blaney, you have two and a half minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Brimson, I'm going to come back to you. Lindsay has asked me to follow up to make sure you get an opportunity to answer the question that she asked. Basically, how would 427 Wing benefit more effectively during this timeline if the resources had been available sooner?

[Linda Brimson]

Part of our mandate is to continue educating. We know that we have this social aspect, this gathering aspect, but we're going beyond that.

Lindsay referred to a museum display, to the Spirit of Flight Aviation Museum. We also have provided museum space to the Secrets of Radar Museum, the equipment and the experience they offer, which is unique across Canada.

There are a lot of doors-open type of events and touring events that haven't been able to happen. You need a bit of funding just to stimulate, whether it's school children, handouts, video or whether to shift some of those things online. All that audiovisual takes time.

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

The next question is this: What resources do you need to survive during the second wave that is now just impacting us immensely?

[Linda Brimson]

We need a recognition that the organizations help heritage buildings survive and something to contribute to the upkeep of that—a recognition that that's a worthy endeavour.

You can imagine keeping up a 1939 building. When we meet there, we have the thermostat turned down. We're huddled in our coats, and we put on a warm drink. We want that building to endure. We want people to experience it beyond the veterans, but it is a monumental task.

We're reaching out to museum organizations. We're reaching out to heritage organizations. We're reaching out to the RCAF. Like I say, we're trying very hard to access funds and to collaborate with our local groups, and maybe even national groups, to make that experience and programming. It takes funds to have that expertise of an archivist.

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

Thank you.

[Linda Brimson]

Thank you, Rachel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you.

Up next, we have MP Seeback, for five minutes, please.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Gaboriault, I want to take a moment to talk to you a little bit about your experience of transitioning out of the forces. It sounds like you certainly have been having some issues.

I was reading a report in July 2016 from the veterans ombudsman. It talked about how, depending on the circumstances, a transitioning member can be required to print and complete 21 separate applications from the 186 forms on the Veterans Affairs website.

It was described by the veterans ombudsman as a bureaucratic nightmare. What was your experience like as you transitioned out due to medical conditions?

[Max Gaboriault]

I cannot speak of when I retired because I can't remember, but it is a bureaucratic nightmare for any aspect of dealing with VA, more so.... It's hard if you lose a leg, an arm, or any part of your body and then have to deal with that, but it's even harder when your injury is cognitive.

The one thing I can recall—because I have been dealing with VA since 2008 for various injuries—is that when you were denied in some aspect, you were informed verbally, and you could appeal verbally. Now—and I can't tell you as of when—it has changed. It has been burdened with written appeals.

I have one in the process for which I was informed that I need to go the second level of appeal, but that requires me to write that appeal, which is difficult for me. I've been trying to.... Various services or available programs are endless paperwork of my life story because departments don't talk to each other.

I don't qualify for the disability tax credit, but I'm close to 120% disabled. That's a ton of paperwork. I have been attempting to apply for CPP for five years now, but I keep forgetting because it's such a daunting task for me.

It's the same thing with VA. Every department makes life difficult when you're disabled. Nothing is streamlined, and everybody's trying to justify their job.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Thanks for sharing that. We've heard that over and over again recently, and it's really a shame and a disservice to our veterans.

For the service clubs, we heard from the Royal Canadian Legion in their committee testimony on Tuesday that if the government had acted sooner and provided certainty with funds sooner, some Legion branches would likely not have closed.

Did you request funds earlier from the government, and what was the government's response, if any, to those requests for funds for your organizations?

Any one of you can go ahead.

[Nick Booth]

Certainly we have been in discussions with the government since the beginning of the pandemic, when it was clear that veterans organizations and community programs across the country were going to struggle. As we've heard from Mr. Gaboriault, the veterans themselves were missing out on their programming and support.

We made our first approach for a $20-million contribution from the federal government as far as March, and have been in continuous dialogue with Veterans Affairs, the Prime Minister’s Office and Treasury Board over the last nine to ten months. I was certainly delighted when it eventually emerged in the Speech from the Throne, through the veterans organizations emergency support fund. But it did take quite a long time to work that process through. Obviously, fully understanding that there are many other claims for federal relief during the pandemic, it certainly took much longer than what would have been ideal, I think, to get that support, which we first called for back in mid-March.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

You have a few seconds left, sir.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Are there any other organizations that want to quickly chime in?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Give a very brief answer, please.