Thank you very much.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today.
My name is Oliver Thorne. I am the executive director of the Veterans Transition Network, which is a registered charity that provides transition and mental health counselling programs for veterans across Canada, for men and women, in English and French.
We're also a registered service provider for Veterans Affairs Canada, meaning that Veterans Affairs will cover the cost for veterans who attend our program through their claim with Veterans Affairs. This makes up approximately 25% of the veterans who attend our programs. For the remaining veterans, we pay the cost of their attendance through charitable donations.
Given that we provide bilingual services, I prepared part of my testimony for today in French. Unfortunately, my French is not perfect, so I will answer all questions in English.
Reading the news that a Veterans Affairs case manager offered medically assisted dying unprompted to a veteran is deeply troubling, and it seems to run counter to the entire purpose of the department.
This is a very complex subject, but since I have a limited amount of time, I will focus on four major elements that convey my point of view.
First, our organization provides mental health services. Suicide is the worst possible outcome for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The focus of our programs and the goal of our organization is suicide prevention by improving veterans' mental health and facilitating their transition.
Reducing suicide is an achievable goal, because PTSD is a treatable disorder. Leading mental health authorities like the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the American Psychological Association have published countless papers about evidence-informed treatments that are available for PTSD and depression and that can reduce symptoms for those who seek them.
Because of the work we do on our programs at VTN, we also know that PTSD is treatable. Over the past 10 years, we've had 1,500 veterans from across Canada attend our programs and, throughout that time, we've undertaken program evaluation research to measure the impacts of those programs on the veterans who attend. Our evaluation shows significant reductions in PTSD, depression and suicide. In particular, one of our evaluations in 2016 showed that 80% of veterans with frequent suicidal thoughts on day one of the program did not have frequent suicidal thoughts at the end of the program and a year and a half later.
There are many other programs and services like ours that also provide this type of support. Again, these are treatable disorders, and quality of life can be improved.
Third, due to military culture, veterans are unfortunately often reluctant to go get help. As a result, they often seek help only when their suffering has become intolerable. That's why it's important that when veterans finally do seek help, our system is prepared to respond quickly with quality services. If not, they risk disengaging from the assistance process altogether and consequently becoming more vulnerable.
I would just add that I think this speaks to the very moving testimony that Mr. Meincke provided regarding the challenge of reaching out and asking for help. It is absolutely vital when veterans make that call that the system is ready to receive them.
Finally, with medical assistance in dying becoming available for mental health disorders in 2023, we must consider the issue of access, both for MAID and for veterans services. According to the Government of Canada, there is a 90-day assessment period before medical assistance in death can be provided, but earlier this year, the Auditor General reported that the median wait time for veterans applying for a disability benefit is 39 weeks, which is 273 days.
This means that for veterans who are ill or injured as a result of service, many of them could wait three times longer for access to that service than they would for medical assistance in dying. We cannot have a system that offers veterans medically assisted death faster than it offers them access to evidence-informed care that they rightly deserve because of their service to Canada.
Thank you for your time.