Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 4th, 2024

[Todd Ross]

There's been tremendous support from the indigenous veterans community, but we're just getting to meet each other. We're just getting to find each other, through some of these opportunities that I've had in the past. Having more opportunities across organizations, I think, is incredibly important, opportunities to have dialogue and to find out what the common problems are and where we can support each other.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much.

We're going to our second round, with interventions of five minutes for the first two, and then two and a half minutes at the end.

Mrs. Wagantall, the floor is yours for five minutes. Please go ahead.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Thank you so much, Chair.

I appreciate having both of you here. Todd, thank you for your service as well.

I want to begin with a question for you, Ms. Teillet.

We did the study in 2019 and had the opportunity to travel. It was excellent. It was right across the country and up north to where the rangers were. One of our recommendations was this:

That Veterans Affairs Canada provide the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs with an explanation of the reasons that a settlement agreement was not reached to compensate Métis veterans of World War II and their families.

The rationale was that in budget 2019, which was the year that we did this, the Government of Canada proposed “$30 million to recognize the contribution of Métis veterans to the country's Second World War efforts and to commemorate the sacrifices and achievements of all Métis veterans.”

I'm wondering if you can answer this for me. I've asked in the past how the $30 million that was proposed to recognize that contribution was spent. Actually, the funding went to only one organization, and the Métis people who were not affiliated with that group, of course, were incredibly disappointed with that. Do you, with your background and history, know what organization it was that actually received that money?

[Danielle Teillet]

No, unfortunately I don't know.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

I guess I'll have to do the research on that myself. Thank you.

That just shows a certain disconnect there, obviously, because you're talking about individuals of a group, our Métis folks, who went over, did serve incredibly for Canada and then failed to get the recognition they deserve still. In other words, that recommendation hasn't been completed. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Maybe Mr. Ross could answer that question.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Thank you, Chair. I was going to go to him next, ever so briefly, because I do have another question that I'm really quite excited to ask.

Mr. Ross, can you give me any feedback on that?

[Todd Ross]

Yes. I do know, through my involvement with the Métis National Council through the Métis Nation of Ontario, that there was a Métis veterans organization created under the Métis National Council. They were distributing funds to World War II Métis veterans. I believe that fund still exists. I think that if you go to metisveterans.ca, that's the remnants of the group that received the funds. With the—

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

That's very helpful. Thank you. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I will follow up on that, because we want to make sure that all who served are recognized and have that support extended to their families.

I have another question. I had the opportunity to meet, on November 28, 2023, with the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, and it represents National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc. These two very impressive young women came to my office: Alma Arguello, who's with Brantford Native Housing; and Sarah McBain, who was with northern housing. They talked to me about the challenges that they face. Of course, this is urban housing for indigenous people, not on reserve.

The promise was made in 2019, I believe, for $4 billion from the federal government to them. At that time, in 2023, they were still waiting. They were very concerned because the housing stock was deteriorating, and they indicated that the government seemed to try to conflate first nations funding and urban housing issues. It's almost like that same expectation: “Well, you already have money. It's over here, towards housing”, but that has to be spent on first nation reserves, so it was very confusing to them.

They talked about the barriers that CMHC placed on first nation communities, and they kept asking about this money. They had 60 signatories of indigenous housing organizations within NICHI. They felt that Minister Fraser was continually stalling, and they were disappointed with his remarks that day. At that point, they just felt there was so much bureaucratic oversight.

They eventually got some funds from CMHC, and they suggested they start in Ontario. However, we know the housing circumstances in Ontario. They were given between $150,000 and $200,000. They said to me, “We couldn't even deal with the permits, let alone the cost of the housing”, which was going to be $445, now up to $550, per square foot. The money was not there. I don't believe it's there yet.

What do we do when we don't get the funding that is needed for urban indigenous folks? Of course, we heard from you, Mr. Ross, about the importance of that housing and that foundation.

I have zero seconds left.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Maybe we can get a short reaction from Mr. Ross to this.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

How about 30 seconds each? It's a big deal.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Let's ask Mr. Ross for a quick reaction, please.

[Todd Ross]

I'm not in my traditional territory. I live on the east coast, but my community is on the west coast. I'm living in an urban indigenous community. There's very little access to urban indigenous housing, period, let alone urban indigenous housing for veterans. Yes, it would be very helpful to have more resources for housing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you so much.

Now for five minutes we have Mr. Sean Casey.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Teillet, I don't have a question for you, but I want to recount this for you. Back when the House of Commons sat in Centre Block.... One of the nicest things you get to do as a member of Parliament is that when people come up to Ottawa, you're able to give them a tour. It was even more so back when everything was in Centre Block. One standard thing that I did on every single one of those tours was to take them over to the Senate chamber, where the bust of James Gladstone was on display, and explain to them that this fellow was a senator before he had the right to vote. To a person, they were aghast to hear that.

I guess what I would say to you is that, after hearing your opening statement and your telling us about the history, which very much lines up with that example, to me it underlines the importance of your work.

Maybe I will add a question in there. What can the government do to help you in your work? Are there certain areas in indigenous military history that require more support? This is your chance.

[Danielle Teillet]

Thank you for the question. I will say that it's a growing field, but there are a lot of gaps in the academic literature. I don't even think I could go into how many areas still need exploration. At the Canadian War Museum right now, one of our projects is looking at a renewal. The Canadian War Museum, where it sits right now, is coming up on 20 years there. I'm relatively new. I've been in my position for two years.

We are actually looking for ways to enhance diversity in the museum in our permanent displays. We're already doing it in our temporary exhibitions, but in our permanent displays, we want to see—of course, I do; that's why I'm there—more history on the contributions of indigenous and Black Canadians, which I know is part of your study. We're going through a process where we are reviewing what we have on display, what requires reinterpretation and what are potentially entire gaps, for example, things that are not included and are not on display, things that we aren't talking about enough. I'd imagine there needs to be a budget for this rather lofty project.

If there's an interest in the government to contribute to that, of course, I'm sure there would be great interest from us at the museum to be able to enhance, essentially, the educational tools, to enhance our exhibitions and to share with all Canadians and all visitors this really critical and important history.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you.

Mr. Ross, thank you for your service, and thank you for being here with us today.

In the course of your work and your advocacy, do you have occasion to deal directly with individual veterans who are struggling or in need of help from Veterans Affairs Canada?

[Todd Ross]

Yes, I'm co-chair of Rainbow Veterans of Canada, as well as co-chair of the LGBT Purge Fund. In my role at Rainbow Veterans of Canada, I work directly with a number of veterans and some who need services.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

In the course of that frontline work, are you aware that Veterans Affairs Canada works with homeless veterans?

[Todd Ross]

Yes, we're aware of that, and we've been able to refer veterans who have had difficulty. Again, once they get connected, the services that they're able to access are amazing.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

I expect that, either through your work or through your advice, veterans are advised that if they have served, it is as simple as reaching out to Veterans Affairs to determine what might be available to them.

[Todd Ross]

Yes. The complications come when.... Particularly for people who are living with issues around mental health, sometimes that relationship piece is tough to build, so simply reaching out sometimes isn't that easy.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you very much.

I guess that underlines the importance of your work, which we very much appreciate, sir. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Casey.

Mr. Desilets, please go ahead. You have two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Ross, you mentioned the lack of funding for indigenous veterans as compared with other veterans.

What is different? What exactly do you mean?