I want every member of the committee to hear that I reached out to Rachel. I'm an office of one. I would love to have the energy, time and health to reach out to every one of you about the duty to inform. I want to appeal to you all to hear what Rachel is saying, because this is a very non-partisan issue.
Before I get to the answer about how to do it, if we look at the scale of obligation and imagine the scale of military service in terms of obligation, we would have a scale ranging from, “Hey, I really want you to do this; it would be nice if you could do this” to, “By the way, there's a bylaw against that” to, “Oh, that's a civil charge” to, “That's a criminal charge”, and we would go on that scale all the way to here. Military service is way past the criminal charge. If we don't do something right, the crimes are much more serious and the punishment is much more serious than if we're a civilian.
That's our obligation to the military. Everything we must do—enter harm's way, lose our life—we cannot question.
What's the obligation of government to veterans? It doesn't even reach, “It would be really nice if you helped me out with my benefit application”. The reciprocal obligation is non-existent. All I'm asking for is just an obligation by government to start that step of showing they really recognize the sacrifices we make, the exigencies of service, the pain, the education levels and the psychological circumstances. They have an obligation to make sure that we get to know about the benefits to which we're entitled.
I'm sure you understand. You have all been here questioning what the department says when they're trying to explain benefits. It's mind-boggling. You guys are mostly healthy, I assume, and you're working full time. You're highly educated, and you see policy every day, and it's complex for you. What about the mostly grade-10-level-educated veterans who got out in the 1990s? What about them? They're not going to understand this policy. They're not going to understand a newsletter that comes from Veterans Affairs and says, “You may be entitled to this benefit, contact us”. Then we call up, and we get a 1-800 number, and the referral doesn't transfer to a veteran service agent. It's a generic worker on the line who reads us out a sheet that still doesn't explain anything in great detail.
I needed help to fill out those applications, and I was still able to do what I did. There are people out there who can't even put pen to paper. They need someone to fill it out for them.
It would look like, first of all, building trust, and not the rhetoric of “We really care about your sacrifice” from Veterans Affairs, and “We're really well-meaning, and we work so hard for you”. They're overwhelmed. Let's give them staff to go out and personally brief, help and advocate. As the DND ombudsman once said in his report, everyone should be provided with a coach upon release.
I would say that, for all those veterans who also exist, those coaches should be available. We still need coaching every day—maybe not some weeks, but there are periods when we do—and we need to get coaches out there who help them. They could be occupational therapists or they could be case managers, but these have to be qualified people who know the programs and know how to deal with a person with a disability. We should meet them on their grounds, not on Veterans Affairs' grounds, because those district officers are scary with the bulletproof glass. They're very impersonal, so let's meet where people feel safe. Just like in the military, they can only listen if they feel safe.