Evidence of meeting #8 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 organizations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Mr. Chair, if I may, I would like Mr. Gaboriault to repeat his answer, because we did not hear it. I don't know if I'm the only one who hasn't heard it.
Liberal
As an Individual
I have no idea what the question was. I'm sorry, I have no short-term memory.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
No problem.
I was just asking you if, since your release from the forces six years ago, you have obtained the services you feel you need. Are the programs meeting your needs?
As an Individual
Yes and no.
I will be able to talk about it in more detail when I answer the next questions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Just in time for her round, we have MP Blaney.
You're up next for six minutes, if you're ready to go.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
If Lindsay's still here—I'm trying to look quickly on this screen—I'm going to let her do the first six minutes.
NDP
Lindsay Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
I'm sorry, I never want to cut off Ms. Blaney; however, I have some questions that I want to ask Ms. Brimson.
I'm so glad to see you here today, Linda.
I'm a proud member of Parliament for the area that represents 427 Wing. I'm also a proud member.... I don't have my tie, like Mr. Carrie; I have a pin, however.
Many of my questions are very similar, but specifically for the 427 Wing.
In your testimony you talked about the importance of the history that the 427 Wing brings to London, but also the surrounding southwestern Ontario region. There are incredible benefits just within the canteen itself and in the history of the canteen.
You didn't have a chance to mention Spooner Memorial Gardens, the Spirit of Flight Aviation Museum or the Secrets of Radar Museum, which I know are also key parts of the wing.
I'm so grateful that it's in the community. I'm also grateful for the community's recognizing its value and coming together for a temporary fix. However, the money that was received from the publicity ads that we were able to get out in the news media is temporary. You spoke about the wing permanently closing if you don't get continual funding.
Could you talk about the services that would be lost in addition to what you've already mentioned? Hopefully you can talk about the impact on the members, many of whom, of course, are seniors, and the emotional, social and mental isolation this has caused and the problems it has caused for your members.
Going forward, you also talked about the operational costs versus the project-based funding with which you've had to try to make ends meet. How important is it for the government, in some of the upcoming funding, to consider operational funding and costs as you go forward?
Director, 427 London Wing, Royal Canadian Air Force Association
It would be key if funds could be allocated without the restrictions. I think we'll be able to access some of our programming money through public donations, which will probably be pretty good for the next six to nine months. However, the operational costs are killing us. They're $17,000 plus. The insurance bill is huge. During COVID we're proud that we have paid off a $10,000 roofing bill, but some of that was because members and executive members kicked in money themselves. We did not want to stiff a local contractor who had done a good roof in good faith. It comes down to that we're part of the community.
We're proud to be part of an aviation hub. We have the Jet Aircraft Museum. We have the International Test Pilot School. We have Fanshawe College Norton Wolf School of Aviation Technology. There's such a great aviation resource right around us within walking distance, for instance Diamond Aircraft. We realize there's something there to build on, but it's hard to be doing those five-year plans when we have fires to put out. Five senior men and I have met every week putting out crises and deciding where we could juggle, how could we meet our commitments to be a community member.
We have people who have kept in contact with our members. Sadly, we're losing members to dementia, to poor health. Many have spouses in care. That's a big concern right now. We continue our Parkwood links, as I mentioned. We have Hilda, who's great with our contacts there, getting veterans some smaller things they might need. That continues. But all of the social aspects, the Friday lunches that brought in all kinds of previous pilots, all kinds of veterans, not just air force.... We don't want to have in-person eating right now; they're too vulnerable. With winter weather, it's just going to be harder for everybody to get there.
We continue sourcing grants, but again, some of those have strings and our national air force association—the one that has the charitable donation, the charitable registration.... I think some other non-profits have found themselves in that catch-22. We are a non-profit. We generate funds from events, but we're certainly not taking in a great amount of funds.
Director, 427 London Wing, Royal Canadian Air Force Association
We may look at business sponsorships.
NDP
Lindsay Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
I wanted to quickly add, and I know that Mr. Carrie has mentioned it, that you approached me as your member of Parliament in April, and we wrote a letter to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister of Canadian Heritage asking for help to save the 427 Wing. Unfortunately, we never received a response from Veterans Affairs. We just received a response from Heritage. Unfortunately, it was noted that it was far too late to apply for the programs that had been made available. But I'm concerned, too, by the fact that I believe that the government waited specifically until the day before Remembrance Day to announce funding that could have been used way before that.
Could you talk about the impacts of that and how you had to struggle for those eight or so months?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
I'm really sorry, but we're actually well over time right now. I'm going to have to move on.
We're actually into the second round.
First up for five minutes we have MP Wagantall, please.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Thank you, Chair, and thank you to all of you for being here today. The roles that you play are crucial and I feel it's really unfortunate that the government took so long to respond to what would clearly be a visible need. Our veterans are in circumstances where they're facing huge backlogs, and I want to comment on Max's scenario.
You indicated, Max, that you're suffering from mefloquine toxicity, PTSD, borderline psychotic injuries—
As an Individual
I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder as well. I forgot that one.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Okay, there you go. These are things that you say are keeping you just in survival mode. I appreciate that you said that COVID hasn't impacted you on the isolation side. That's something that our veterans—
As an Individual
It does and it doesn't. The way it doesn't is that I lived in a war zone, in prison essentially, the base, for nine months, and all my movements were controlled. It's just part of life in the army. In that sense, no, it doesn't. Where it does is when it impacts my treatment.