Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 20th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Not yet; you have 30 seconds left.

[Wilson Miao, Liberal, Richmond Centre, BC]

Okay, well, I have all my questions asked.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Okay. Thank you so much, Mr. Miao.

We will now have two short interventions of two and a half minutes.

Mr. Desilets, go ahead.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am not procedurally savvy, but would it be okay to ask that the committee formally request that the department provide us with a copy of the report once it is completed?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

I am looking at the clerk and I think that, yes, committee members can put a request to the minister.

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

So the request is made officially and we will have a copy of the report. Is this correct?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Yes, I can assure the committee that it will have a copy of the report.

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

Excellent.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

You asked for it, I take it, officially, so you will get it—

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

The clerk has just informed me that this has to be done through a motion and that it has to be passed by the committee.

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

Okay. Will that be done soon?

My time is being eaten up, Mr. Chair. I'm going to get upset.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Yes, we can do that at any time during the meeting, and then we will vote.

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

That's fine. So we can do that after my questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Yes.

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

Mr. Harris, can you tell me how long an investigation like this takes?

[Steven Harris]

It depends. In this kind of an investigation, a lot of data needs to be considered and many people need to be consulted. The people are not always available, either because they are on vacation or on sick leave, or for any other reason.

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

I have no idea how many people you have to meet with. What can we expect, roughly? Will it take three months or six months, for example?

[Steven Harris]

It depends on people's availability. So it may take a few months. You're right, it could take anywhere from three months to six months, depending on the availability of the people involved in the investigation.

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

Very good. Thank you.

Minister, it is difficult for me to judge such an incident, again, because I am not privy to the facts, and this sad situation could have happened anywhere. We don't have any information on the employee, but don't you think that, if there were more permanent employees in the department, this kind of a mess could be prevented better? Half of the employees are permanent and the rest are contract employees, which creates an appalling turnover rate. That's not good.

What do you think?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I will turn this over to my deputy. He's the one who handles the investigation, and I think the employee has been around for a while.

[Paul Ledwell]

I should point out that there are many more permanent employees in this area. It's not like the other case that has been talked about a lot, where services to veterans are being provided. Mr. Harris will be able to give you more details, but the vast majority of the employees in this area are permanent.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Desilets.

Now I'd like to invite Ms. Rachel Blaney for two and a half minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for the information so far. I think it's helped me clarify some things in my mind.

We talked earlier, and my questions were about the training process. I guess my next question is this: Due to this incident, will there be any modifications to the process of training that you're doing? Is there something you're adding to hopefully address this? I also want to know if that training is going to apply to new hires, as well as to people who have been around for a while, obviously.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I can assure you that the frontline staff who are hired and are dealing with veterans' calls will certainly be trained in this process. Again, the man who is doing the training is to my left, so I should let him answer, but we had to make sure that this happened for sure—and the managers.