Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2023

[Carolyn Hughes]

We've never asked, to be honest, but in the news lately they've been saying that records have not been kept on the number of veterans who actually were successfully hired at Veterans Affairs, and I have heard of none in other government departments. That's regarding the Veterans Hiring Act.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

This was actually not a question I had before, but could you explain to me what transition centres are? Those are new to me.

[Carolyn Hughes]

Transition centres are a joint collaboration between Veterans Affairs and the CAF. They have changed names several times, so I'll just to refer to what they were in the past. In the past, they were basically just for ill and injured military members as they transitioned out of the military and became civilians. Now they're open to all veterans. They're a stop on their way out of the military where they can get help, whether that is to get in touch with a case manager, to put in disability claims or to make sure their pensions are straightened out when they're going to get out of the military. They're sort of one-stop shops. Everything is there for questions to be asked and answers to be gotten.

Basically, right now, there are only two or three across the country, but they're planning on expanding them right across, on all the major bases. In the past they were on every base, but the services weren't as extensive as they are now.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Thank you.

Obviously, as you pointed out, in the media there has been growing concern with MAID, and there are poor service standards for delivering for vets who are looking for care afterwards. Now we're dealing with jobs and trying to get employment for vets afterwards. Recently we've been hearing about $1 billion of funds that have not been disbursed to vets who are waiting for service.

What are your thoughts on those concerns? Are there any other concerns you have, or do those nail what we're dealing with?

[Carolyn Hughes]

With respect to the issues regarding MAID, we have been watching very closely for the outcome of the RCMP investigation, and we have our ear open for any other complaints we may hear.

I personally have not been contacted with any more complaints. I have put the word out to all my service officers across the country that if they hear from a veteran complaining or indicating that he or she was offered that, they should get in touch with me right away. I would know about that if any of our service officers had been approached.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

When you say “any more”, do you mean you heard about some beforehand? Are there other ones—

[Carolyn Hughes]

No, there were just the ones in the news.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Thank you for that clarification.

[Carolyn Hughes]

Regarding the.... I've lost my train of thought here.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

It was on the $1 billion and poor service standards.

[Carolyn Hughes]

What was your other question?

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

There was MAID, the billion dollars, poor service standards and jobs. The list keeps growing. We could be here for a while.

[Carolyn Hughes]

Okay. On the billion dollars that was not spent, our president put out a statement asking why that money hadn't been spent and saying that we would like to know what programs maybe didn't receive the funding they should have.

Why couldn't that money have been transferred to other areas of the department in which veterans need more help, such as the backlog and things like that? Veterans have a lot of programs and benefits, so we could be talking about that for hours.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you so much. I'll have to stop you right here.

I invite Mrs. Rechie Valdez to go ahead for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I also want to thank the witnesses for joining us. I too was looking forward to speaking with Mr. MacEachern.

Through you, Mr. Chair, I'll direct the questions to Ms. Hughes.

In my riding of Mississauga—Streetsville we have Branch 139, and I really commend all the work that the Royal Canadian Legion does for our veterans in the larger community. Thank you so much for all that you do.

February is Black History Month. Can you share how the Legion supports under-represented veterans when it comes to their transition back to civilian life?

[Carolyn Hughes]

For us, a veteran is a veteran is a veteran. We make no distinction between race, sex or gender: A veteran is a veteran. We treat them all the same, even so far as to say whether they're a U.K. veteran or an American veteran. We help all our allied veterans, sometimes in different ways because of the policies in government.

I know we will be having some media releases, but that's not really my department at work. We have a marketing and media section that does that.

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

Thank you.

I had the opportunity to meet with the Legion on my most recent trip to the Yukon. What I'm curious about hearing from your perspective is more around what you have been hearing from veterans across all the different provinces. Are they going through similar challenges when it comes to employment and their transition back? If you have any insights, I'd love to hear about that.

[Carolyn Hughes]

The difficulty, I find, is just knowing where the jobs are. Some of them have been in the military for 20 years. That's been their whole life. They've never had to look for another job, so some guidance, maybe something similar to a case manager, like an employment guide.... I'm not sure exactly what the new contract does and how far in depth they go with helping veterans, but I know that if somebody has just gotten out of the military, it would help them with that—not just with their skills transfer, but to know where to go, to know how to do an interview, to practise. There are different things like that.

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

We heard just recently, in the previous panel, about the need for the national employment strategy to be flexible. What other recommendations can you put forward to our committee that can assist with their transition?

[Carolyn Hughes]

It definitely needs to be flexible. The needs of each veteran can be unique. Some need a bit of help, and some need a greater amount of help. Also, it needs to keep in mind diversity, as you mentioned. We need to understand the challenges that different veterans experience. They face different challenges in the workplace, as Canadians do generally—different genders, races and minorities—and it's no different for the military when they release. They have the additional thing that they've been in the military for a very long time, and sometimes they don't have the skill sets or the knowledge about where to go for a job.

I also would like to see the progress they're making regularly reported back, and more communication for the general public about what the programs actually entail. I'm sure they're made aware when a veteran gets in touch with a third party contact, but it would be nice to know in the general public, because it would make more veterans aware of the benefits of this. Also, in the transition interview, I would love to see that discussed in detail. When I had my transition interview, it was probably about 15 minutes long. I was handed a whole bunch of paper, and that was about it. I know it's come some way since that time, because I work with the transition groups, but more could be done between the CAF and Veterans Affairs.

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

Thank you. That's really good feedback.

In this committee, we've had the privilege of hearing from spouses and family members of veterans. Is there anything you can include for supports for them? We're talking about being inclusive here. What recommendations can you put forward?

[Carolyn Hughes]

Is that for spouses and survivors?

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

Yes, just family members.

[Carolyn Hughes]

Yes, for support for their loved ones, it would be to make sure they go and get the help they need, because a lot of veterans are proud, and they will not go out or want to show any vulnerability or weakness. It's not a weakness to reach out for help—don't get me wrong on that—but it's perceived that way in some cases, when you're told to be tough and to do your job and not complain. It's different when you get out of the military. You have to be your own advocate, and that's where families can step in.

I see a lot of couples who come to my office for help. It's generally the wife who will come—in some cases, it is the husband who is the spouse of a military woman—but it's often the spouses. You watch their faces and you can tell when something's not honest with the veteran—you know, whether they're trying to downplay an injury or say, “Oh, I don't need that benefit.” Sometimes you have to shame them a bit and say, “Well, maybe you don't need that right now, but you have to think about your spouse in the future. If something happens to you today, maybe your spouse can benefit from something.”

I think it's about taking families into consideration. They're the ones behind the veteran, supporting them every day, day in and day out, 24-7, and they could be given greater support on their own for that.

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

Thank you, Mrs. Hughes.