Evidence of meeting #33 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 employment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
Exactly, that's where it comes from.
Liberal
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
Four hundred people at $15,000 each would be $6 million, more or less.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
Thank you.
I'll go back to you, Ms. MacLean.
One last thing you said in your opening remarks was that we have an opportunity to benefit from best practices internationally.
Could you expand on that and let us know what the gold standard is in terms of transitioning veterans post-service into employment opportunities?
PhD Candidate, Queen's University, As an Individual
I wouldn't say that there's a gold standard. As I mentioned, the U.K. has put quite a bit of effort into employment after release. They recently did a few evaluations of their program. One of them showed that they weren't providing a lot of services to probably the most vulnerable, who are those who had very few years of service in the military, because it was based more on eligibility criteria than on need.
What I would say is that, whatever strategy is put in place, it shouldn't require so many years of service in order to provide benefits. As I was saying, the younger veterans with the shorter terms of service are the most likely to be unemployed following release from the military.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
I want to come back to what the LASS told us. One of the findings was connected to the level of disability. If I understood it correctly, those with a higher disability rating faired better post-employment than those with a low one.
I'll just give you the quote from the summary that we've been given.
Earnings recovery was quite polarized as many with low disability assessments had poor earnings recovery...and many with high disability assessments had high earnings recovery....
That to me seems counterintuitive. Can you help me?
Liberal
PhD Candidate, Queen's University, As an Individual
That's still true. Earnings recovery is lower among people with high disability ratings. There are quite a few of the population who were at both ends.
It is intuitive.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you so much, Ms. MacLean.
We now go over to Mr. Luc Desilets, who has six minutes.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Blais, my questions are for you.
Let me start by congratulating you. I think that your program is a wonderful initiative. Not only does it help veterans make the transition, it also meets an enormous need given the current labour shortage.
You spoke of 400 students. Does that mean you have accepted 400 students since the beginning of the program?
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
That's right. The program was launched about two years ago. We have trained approximately 200 people who are now on the labour market and another 200 students are currently doing the program.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
It is an impressive number.
I know that you are working on francophone recruitment. For example, you are going to change your website, and for that I thank you. Will you be increasing your efforts in Quebec to go and recruit francophone students?
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
Indeed, and that is why we went to Valcartier last summer, that is why we went to Bagotville and that is why we go to Mirabel when there are events like the symposium. We actually have a promotions van that we use in Quebec. We also have a big media presence. That is precisely why we are doing these things.
The program has been running for two years now and it is well established. Things are going very well and we have ironed out the wrinkles. We now have to look to Quebec. Part of the University of Ottawa's mandate is to offer services in French, and it is clear that we are going in that direction.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
What future do you see for your coding for veterans program? Do you think the number of students will increase each year or will you maintain current levels?
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
We asked Accenture to do a study on our return on investment to see if the program was meeting its goals. We are extremely satisfied with the results: it seems that we are doing things exactly right. We have funding, as well as the education and training benefits, so nothing should keep us from growing.
We were cautious at the beginning, because we did not want to create a frustrating situation for people. But now the program is working well and the outlook is fantastic. We obviously would like to grow.
In fact, the program is a coveted one. There are people who are not in the military who would like to enrol in our program. That is another discussion that we could have.
Bloc
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
Yes, the education and training benefit program covers the enrolment fees, i.e., $15,000.
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
No. The fees are $15,000 per participant for each pathway.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Right. That's what I heard earlier.
Your program generates a lot of money for the university.
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
We don't get any additional funding apart from the $15,000.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Okay.
What is the employment rate for these 400 participants?
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
It is about 100%. The program has a 90% success rate, as I stated earlier. I would also add that unofficially, a good number of our participants are offered a job even before they finish the program. The others quickly find employment.
It's all well and good to have a 90% success rate, but you may ask what about the remaining 10%? These participants are given individual attention. We extend the program by offering them additional support, so that the graduation rate can be as close as 100% as possible.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Do the participants enrol in the program on their own, after having learnt about it, or does Veterans Affairs Canada give them the information?
Executive Director, Professional Development Institute, University of Ottawa
I have been told that Veterans Affairs Canada promotes the program in its information bulletins, for example.
We are also working with the Canadian Armed Forces to promote the program. The program is very new, it has only been in existence for two years, but we can see by the number of visits on our website that growth could almost be exponential.