Evidence of meeting #105 for Veterans Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was husband.
A recording is available from Parliament.
As an Individual
To answer that, I think it's your circumstance and where you are in life. Of course, if you're younger, it might depend on how you've been educated in financial management.
However, I think my whole point was that the lump sum was only equivalent to five years' worth of salary. That, to me, was a jarring moment—realizing, “Wow, that's it.”
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
We'll have to follow up on that. I appreciate that.
Briefly, I'd like to go back to the diagnosis of your husband's cancer.
What did the doctor indicate was the cause? Was there any indication as to what caused the cancer? Your impression is that it was something very different from what Veterans Affairs suggested.
As an Individual
Doctors can't tell you 100% how you got cancer. All they can do is—
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Did they make a recommendation based on your feedback to them regarding his lifestyle or anything like that?
As an Individual
It could have been caused by the chemicals he used on the ship.
Conservative
As an Individual
Well, at the time, we weren't even aware it was asbestos-caused.
As an Individual
A doctor has only a finite amount of knowledge, and cancer is something that is, you know....
Conservative
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Blake Richards
Thank you.
We will have one last round of questioning, from the Liberal Party for two and a half minutes. That will be Ms. Hepfner.
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Mrs. Kimm, I also want to chime in and tell you how impressed we are with your testimony and how valuable your time here has been. Thanks again to you and your husband for your service to our country, which continues to this day.
You've now been testifying, I think, for an hour and a half, so a lot of the questions I originally wanted to pose have already been touched on in the committee. Forgive me if it seems a bit repetitive.
I was curious about how long it took for your husband's diagnosis to be accepted to have been caused by his work. You said that a lot of his colleagues were also affected by these chemicals—AFFF and asbestos. They didn't use protective gear. Regarding the colleagues who served with him, do you know whether they had a similar experience, in that they were accepted right away as having a disease directly related to their service?
As an Individual
All I can tell you is that, when my husband is looking at Facebook, he sees that one of his colleagues has passed away from cancer. I don't know the stories behind the colleagues, but they all served together on the same ships, so we just assume this is what happened.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
You haven't been in touch to find out whether they received similar levels of compensation.
Do you think it was your local MP intervening that made a difference?
As an Individual
Yes, I think it was because of that intervention that we were able to expedite his initial application and were successful in meeting with the minister.
Liberal
Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON
You have also talked quite a bit today about the burden of the paperwork you've had to endure through this process. Do you have any suggestions for us on specifically how to alleviate that burden?
As an Individual
Unfortunately, I think paperwork is going to be around for quite a while. I have an extensive background in records management. We used to call it “the paper tiger”. It's unfortunately something that has to be done.
The challenge with it as well is that some veterans are not computer-literate. For them, to manoeuvre through the online version could be very daunting. With respect to them, paper is probably preferred.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Blake Richards
Pardon me. We're out of time.
That will end our time in this particular portion of the meeting.
We really appreciate your time with us here today, Mrs. Kimm. I think the committee members have learned a lot. Hopefully, the recommendations we make will lead somewhere further than where you've been able to get thus far. Thank you again.
We will close off this portion of the meeting.
I will suspend the meeting. I will just point out to members that I'm going to start again in about five minutes or less, at about 12:34. I know that people will want to have a chance to thank our witness in person, but let's make that brief.
If you're not a parliamentary staff member who is authorized to be in here for an in camera meeting, please leave the room quickly if you can, so that we can reconvene our meeting as quickly as possible for our in camera portion.
Again, thank you, Mrs. Kimm. It's much appreciated.
As an Individual
Thanks very much to all of you for having me speak today. I appreciate it.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Blake Richards
The meeting is suspended.
[Proceedings continue in camera]