Veterans Affairs Committee on May 20th, 2022

[Simon Crabtree]

I was just going to add, with regard to what if the marriage after 60 clause were removed, that when we talked about costing and that cost earlier on, it was really only in reference to those who are still contributing. There is always that question of how to treat those who have already retired or where members have already deceased.

That is not included in the costing, and neither would it necessarily be included or captured if the marriage after 60 clause were to be removed. There would have to be specific consideration for how to treat those who have already retired and those who have already passed. That's just to say that it was not implicit.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you, sir.

I will cede the remainder of my time to Ms. Valdez.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Go ahead, MP Valdez, please.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

My questions are for you, Dr. Li. You have done this extensive research. I really appreciate everything you've done for that. I want to know something that I haven't heard yet. Can you share what the participants mentioned about the stigma they faced entering a marriage after 60? Did a lot of them face stigma for entering these relationships?

[Dr. Eric Ping Hung Li]

I would say that most of the stigma is after they enter the relationship, especially when there are major age differences of 10-plus years. They're labelled gold diggers for that.

The others are pretty much of a similar age. I can also see some patterns between couples or survivors who were also serving in the army too, or they stayed home to take care of the family. I can definitely see some very general patterns there. Being unemployed for pretty much 30 or 40 years, they are also carrying another stigma. It's not like the gold digger kind of stigma. I think definitely there would be some different labels or stigmas surrounding this population.

Thank you for the question.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

No problem.

The other thing, too, is more around psychological support. Have they asked for any type of resources that we can provide them? Can we help them in any way from that perspective?

[Dr. Eric Ping Hung Li]

I think most of the stress is really, as I mentioned earlier, the double hit they get. They have financial struggles and at the same time they've lost their spouse. Having said that, some emotional support from people like social workers would really help them as they go through those challenging moments.

There's also a loss of socialization because of the financial difficulties. I remember a lady in her seventies telling me that she had to stop going to the coffee shop because $7 for a coffee was too expensive.

I'll conclude my statement there.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you.

I think my time is up, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you so much.

Indeed, the time is up.

That puts an end to this round of questions.

I really must thank all the witnesses who have participated in this meeting, which is the longest we have had with witnesses. Their testimony will be very useful for our report.

On behalf of the members of the committee and on my own behalf...

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Chair, I'm sorry to interrupt you. I know you're thanking everyone.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Go ahead, Ms. Blaney.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you so much.

I heard several committee members today talk about the Quebec provincial pension process. I'm just wondering if we could direct the analyst to be able to reach out and get more information so that when the report is written he has access. We are hearing a lot of anecdotal information, which I really value, but I think it's important that we actually get that information. I don't think we have a lot more time in our time here.

I'm just wondering if it's okay with you, Chair, that we ask if the analyst could retrieve that information directly from the source so that the report captures that.

Thank you. I'm sorry for interrupting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

No, that's okay.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you to all of the witnesses.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Mr. Chair, while we're adding things on to our body of work, I know that we didn't cover off what the degree of uptake was on the optional survivor benefit, although it appears that one of the witnesses wanted to answer that. I think that would be helpful too.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Right after this meeting I'm going to talk to the clerk and the analyst to see. It's important to have a full report, I agree with you.

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

Excuse me, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Yes, Mr. Desilets?

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

I would like to ask a question.

We asked Ms. Garrett-Baird if we could have an analysis of the report. I have heard the responses and I have tried to get confirmation from my colleagues, but I am not sure that we will have an analysis of the Statistics Canada report. Perhaps the analyst or the clerk could tell us if we got an official “yes”.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

I listened to the conversations too, but from my point of view there was no official yes or no. In order to avoid re‑contacting the witness, we could listen to the recording with the analyst and the clerk to verify this information.

With that, members of the committee and witnesses, I thank you once again. I would like to mention your names before I let you go.

We had with us Dr. Eric Ping Hung Li, from the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research. Dr. Eric Ping Hung is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia. We also heard from Brigadier-General Virginia Tattersall, director general, Compensation and Benefits at the Department of Defence; Ms. Crystal Garrett-Baird, director general, Policy and Research at the Department of Veterans Affairs; Ms. Nadine Labrie, senior director, Pensions and Benefits at the Treasury Board Secretariat; and Mr. Simon Crabtree, executive director, Pensions and Benefits at the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Again, thank you very much for participating in this session and for answering questions from the committee members.

Before adjourning the meeting, I would like to inform the members of the committee that as of June 3, for the next meetings, we will be studying the report that we started on service dogs for veterans. If we have enough time, we will study the report on the desecration of monuments in honour of veterans.

I would also like to inform the members of the committee that there was talk of receiving Major Brandon J. Archuleta, but unfortunately he declined the invitation. So on June 3, we will move on to the consideration of those reports, and we will certainly continue that consideration on June 10 and June 17 as well.

With that, I would like to know if members agree to adjourn the meeting.

There is no objection. Again, on behalf of all of us, I thank all the technical team, the interpreters, the analyst and the clerk who have accompanied us during this session.

With that, I wish you all a fine end to the day and an excellent long weekend.

The meeting is adjourned.