Evidence of meeting #2 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 chair.
A video is available from Parliament.
8:55 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
Thank you.
Can you give us an update on the renovation and revitalization of the Daniel J. MacDonald Building?
8:55 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
It is happening very soon. It is going to be a state-of-the-art facility. It will have a very low carbon footprint and will be fully accessible to a level unseen before.
9 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ledwell.
Mr. Desilets, you have the floor for the next six minutes.
9 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Harris, I am very pleased to see you again.
Mr. Deputy Minister, we spoke this past December 2. At that time, a gap existed between anglophones and francophones in terms of their wait time to get a response about their case. Francophones were waiting an average of 41.1 weeks and anglophones, fortunately for them, were waiting an average of 32.2 weeks.
Is that still the case?
9 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
I can tell you that those numbers have improved, but it remains a great challenge to improve the process for all veterans, anglophone and francophone, men and women alike.
Our ultimate goal is to have a process that is—
9 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I understand.
I would have preferred that Mr. Harris answer my question, but I'm happy that you did, Mr. Ledwell.
There is still a nine-week gap?
9 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
No, there is not.
In previous months, the gap was about six weeks. In October, November and December, the gap was about three weeks.
9 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
All right.
I'm glad to hear that. I hope the committee gets the numbers on that; that is what we want and we asked the Minister for them earlier. We'd like to get some tangible numbers; there's a lot of dithering going on and we are getting numbers from all sides.
In your opinion, is the gap between francophones and anglophones acceptable and to be expected?
9 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
Actually, it is unacceptable. We are currently working to improve the situation.
Mr. Harris, would you like to comment on that?
9 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
Thank you, Mr. Ledwell.
Of course, we're making significant efforts. As the deputy minister said, over the past few months, we have significantly narrowed the gap between francophone and anglophones applications. I see that our people are now trained and equipped to make decisions on francophone applications. That will allow us to continue working and close the gap.
9 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
That's what we all want. We're looking out for the well-being of veterans.
When do you think you will close the gap between anglophones and francophones?
9 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
That's a very good question.
All we have in our files right now are francophone applications that have been pending for a long time. When we make a decision, it has an impact on the wait time. It's hard to say exactly when we will close the gap between francophone and anglophone applications, but I believe we will get there soon.
9 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
What do you mean by “soon”?
Can francophones expect to one day have the same wait time as anglophones?
9 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
To be honest, I think we might get there in the next few months.
9 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I'm glad to hear that; I'm hoping for it. We will be able to see the results.
Mr. Chair, I have finished asking my questions. You can therefore transfer my speaking time to my colleague.
9 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you very much for your questions, Mr. Desilets.
For the last round of questions, I invite Ms. Rachel Blaney, for six minutes.
Please go ahead.
9 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you so much, Chair.
It's very nice to see all of you and, of course, to meet Mr. Ledwell. I always enjoy our conversations.
My first question is actually more of a request. I'm wondering if you could commit to providing to the committee the proportion of VAC workers who are former veterans, or veterans themselves I should say, or former Correctional Service Canada workers. That would be really helpful.
Is there any way we could get that information?
9:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and Ms. Blaney.
Certainly, we can provide you with those details regarding veterans. That's something that we ask. Obviously, it's self-identified. I will have to check about those who are former Correctional Service employees, and whether we can share that information, but I will look into that.
9:05 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
I'm very curious about one thing, and I did put a question to the department on this, and received a response not too long ago. I guess what is concerning to me is this. We know we have a Veterans Bill of Rights in this country, and when you read that Bill of Rights, it's very clear that it applies to every veteran who is a client of VAC.
I was a little surprised when we put our request and found out that although there is an extensive amount of training for VAC employees, they are not being trained in any way about the Bill of Rights, what it means, and what their responsibilities are pertaining to that particular document.
It seems to me that it would make sense that, especially in the positions of case managers, they should understand what that is and how to deliver those services in a particular manner.
I guess I have two questions. First, what is the purpose of the bill of rights, if it's just there as a document that cannot be actually used in a meaningful way? Second, if veterans who are being provided services feel that their bill of rights have not been acknowledged or represented, is there any process within VAC for them to move forward with an official complaint?
9:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Madam Blaney, there's a tremendous amount of training that goes in. My colleague, Mr. Harris, referred to the training that we undertake for new staff who are especially interfacing with veterans. That's something we take very seriously. In addition to public service training, such as in values and ethics, there is a lot of training that is very specific to the importance of the way our staff comport themselves in their interaction with veterans.
Included in that will be all of the fundamental aspects, including the bill of rights, that are important for our staff members to understand. I would be surprised if there's not reference to that in the general training that transpires.
In terms of a mechanism by which a veteran can raise a question, yes, we have several of those. I'll ask Mr. Harris and Ms. Lantz to—
9:05 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
I'm so sorry to interrupt and I apologize for this through the chair.
I just want to clarify that I asked a question and it was very clear in the response that I got. I just got it yesterday. I'm happy to send that back to you. It came from the department itself. It said that at no point is this training put into place.
I completely embrace the idea that, as part of a particular type of training, that would be part of it. It may not be called training on the bill of rights for veterans. I need to push back on that, through you, Mr. Chair, because when we got that response there was a very clear message that it is not an official part of the training.
Again, it's a document. It's something that is a commitment to veterans. I'm just wondering how is it not taught to folks that are doing that work? That's not me criticizing in any way the amazing people who serve our veterans every day—I really appreciate it—but if that's not part of the training, that's not their problem. It's really an upper management problem.
I just want to go back to the other part of it. Is there not a process for veterans who feel that their rights have been trampled on? They have this document that assures them there will be a certain criteria of how the services are provided to them. Is there no process for them to move forward that includes this?
I'm hearing about it a lot. We've talked in this committee about it and about sanctuary trauma. Veterans are coming, asking for help and then they're turning away. I talked about Roy earlier today. There's years of trauma. There were ten years of him saying that this is wrong and please fix it. Because of his particular trauma, he was not able to move forward. It was to the point where if somebody from Veterans Affairs sent him a message, he couldn't even look at it because he's traumatized by what has happened.
I'm just wondering if you could come back to this. Again, I just want to clarify that we asked the question and we were told that it is not part of the training.
9:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
We'll certainly look into that aspect of it, Madame Blaney.
9:10 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Veterans Affairs
Mr. Chair, if you'll allow me, we'll verify what information was provided back to you.
In terms of sources whereby a veteran can come back and raise issues and questions about the way that they're being interfaced with, we have several mechanisms to do that built into our system. Again, I'll ask Mr. Harris to indicate that from the service delivery perspective, where we interact with most of our clients.