Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 7th, 2024

[Amy Meunier]

Yes. I can't tell you offhand exactly what their reference would be, but it would be along the lines of the special duty operation or special duty area. For example, the U.K., New Zealand and Australia recognize the Persian Gulf on Remembrance Day or Anzac Day. They put it part and parcel into regular commemorative activities, versus stand-alone activities.

There are cenotaphs and monuments in some of our Five Eyes partner countries. Similarly, there are about 40 cenotaphs and plaques across Canada that make reference to the Persian Gulf as well.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Is there anything you've seen in any of these other countries that you would say we could emulate? Are there things they have done that we could do better here, or are there examples we could draw from?

[Amy Meunier]

I can't point to anything in particular. I know Mr. Davis made reference to a monument being built in the U.S., which the federal government has contributed to financially.

Clearly, there's more recognition that's required, so we're looking forward to doing just that.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

I want to ask you about the U.S., because you mentioned it. Before I do that, though, you just made the comment that there's more we can do. Could you give us some examples of things you think we could do?

[Amy Meunier]

As I mentioned earlier, the Canadian War Memorial has a website associated with it that provides links to information related to the various conflicts and missions that are represented in the inscription of “In Service to Canada”. That's really wonderful, but if you're walking down the street and you visit the national War Memorial, it might not be that clear to you, so I think there are some steps we could take to make that more evident.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

A lot of the focus today has been on the Persian Gulf veterans, but I know there are Afghan veterans making these calls, and we just haven't had a chance to hear from them in this study yet. It's too bad we didn't have you at the end of the study so that we could ask questions based on the Afghan veterans' concerns as well. I think we have several of them coming to see us on Thursday.

What more could you be doing to recognize their service? They fought in a war too, whether some people want to admit it or not.

Could you give us an indication of that? We won't go into the monument issue, because we've been there before. I certainly disagree with much of the position that's happened with the current government and what's been going on now, but we won't get into that.

Aside from the monument, which darn well needs to get built, what else could could the government do to recognize our Afghan veterans better?

[Amy Meunier]

Thanks.

One thing is making sure that we're connecting them with youth and with others to share the stories and capture the individual experiences that occurred there.

We have talked about the Afghan monument, but that's a very important piece. I'm happy to say that construction unveiling has moved from 2027 to 2026. We just had a land blessing that took place last week, which is a very important part of that.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

I'm glad to hear that. It's still not soon enough, in my opinion. It should have been done years ago, and 2026 is still too late, but the sooner the better.

[Amy Meunier]

Yes, and we're continuing to work with the Afghan veterans and with those still in service to determine what makes sense for them.

You made reference earlier to the 10th anniversary. We built that ceremony in consultation with those who served. We heard feedback that some were not ready for large affairs; they're still in their recovery and they're still grappling with understanding their roles, so we want to be respectful of that.

As we continue, we will certainly increase that connection. Our website also has quite a bit of information on service in Afghanistan, and we're capturing more and more stories.

Thank you for that question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Ms. Meunier.

Mr. Sean Casey, you have five minutes, and that's all.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to direct my first question to Major-General Simoneau and/or Brigadier-General Girouard.

I'm going to come back to the testimony we heard on September 19. The testimony was that there exists a policy within Veterans Affairs Canada, policy 1447, entitled “Disability Benefits in Respect of Wartime and Special Duty Service—The Insurance Principle”. The testimony we heard bemoaned the fact that there was no such policy within CAF.

First of all, I presume you're aware of that testimony, but if not, trust me: That's what was said.

Can you explain whether such a policy is necessary within DND, and if not, why not?

[MGen Erick Simoneau]

Mr. Chair, I'm not familiar, evidently, with Veterans Affairs Canada's policy 1447. I presume it has to do with compensation and benefits for veterans. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, I wanted to be clear that we are looking after the serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces. We have policies in place not to support veterans but to support serving members.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but just so you know, one of the main concerns was that this particular policy issued by Veterans Affairs actually contains definitions of “wartime service” and “special duty service”. I think the issue was that the lack of any definition or clarity from DND was something that made the impacted veterans quite unhappy.

[MGen Erick Simoneau]

Mr. Chair, what I can tell you from a DND/CAF perspective is that we're implementing as per the legislation in place, which doesn't have wartime service enshrined in it. Therefore, we're using the legislation that we have, to great effect.

Let me be clear: The compensation, benefits and recognitions are state of the art for Canadian Armed Forces members. We have, through the Veterans Well-being Act, delegated authorities to our minister to be very responsive and adaptive, allowing him to approve special duty service and to launch Canadian Armed Forces forward when the world needs us.

Again, we're concerned about veterans as well—and let me be clear on this—but our focus and our policies are aimed at serving members.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

I'll go over to you, Brigadier-General.

You talked about the analysis of risk and hardship that goes into your assessment of each special duty operation. Then what I heard you say was that the analysis is not static and that it changes, even over the course of the mission.

What would the impact of that moving assessment be on those who are serving? Can you give a concrete example of how a change in the analysis of the risk or hardship would directly impact a member of the forces?

[BGen Luc Girouard]

Yes, sir. As I mentioned, the assessment is evolutive. It adapts; it evolves. It is reassessed every 18 months, at a minimum. If there are significant events or significant changes to the threat that is perceived in theatre by the chain of command, by the task force commander, those would automatically trigger a review at the strategic level, and those changes, whether that's to hardship or to risk, would be clearly communicated to the chief of the defence staff, who would then be able to adjust those rates, if you will. There would be a clear financial impact to the members who are deployed.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much.

On behalf of the committee members, I want to thank all the witnesses for their participation in this study on the definition of “war”, “wartime service”, and on the difference, the process of determining, and the criteria for veteran's benefits.

I commend and thank the representatives from the Department of National Defence: Major‑General Erick Simoneau, deputy commander, military personnel command; Brigadier‑General Luc Girouard, director general support and chief of joint logistics; and Sean Graham, directorate of history and heritage.

I also want to thank the representatives from Veterans Affairs: Pierre Tessier, assistant deputy minister, strategic policy, planning and performance branch; Amy Meunier, assistant deputy minister, commemoration and public affairs branch; and Mitch Freeman, director general, policy and research.

I also want to thank the entire technical team, the interpreters, our new clerk and our analyst.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.