Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 16th, 2023

[Jeannine Adams]

We work with partners. We work with health care partners. An example would be The Newly Institute. It works with first responders and the military community, helping them with their struggles in terms of PTSD and pain management, for example. Once they're ready, there's a referral to us. We would work with them in terms of understanding what types of interests they have, and what that actually looks like from a career perspective.

We also go back to the rehab organization, making sure we've got a good understanding, and if there's any insight it can provide us. It's just constant feedback, and making sure that we're meeting the veterans, or first responders, where they are, and moving them forward from there.

We also work with employers. We're always building relationships with employers to make sure they understand these new technologies. Oftentimes, it's not just the students who don't understand the new technology, it's the employers, as well.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Tolmie.

We'll now go to MP Darrell Samson, for two minutes, please.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you, all, for your presentations. It's very much appreciated, as well as the work you do to support our veterans.

We only have two minutes, so I'm going to move this quickly.

I'll ask the three of you the same questions. What is the relationship between your organization and Veterans Affairs? On recruitment, what strategy do you use to recruit veterans to your organization?

We'll start with Ms. Jones.

[Tara Jones]

We're a service provider that delivers career transition services on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada. We went through a procurement process. We don't actually recruit the veterans to the program. VAC is responsible for the communication, education and application approval process. If the veterans are approved, they come to us.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Are 100% of the individuals veterans or family members?

[Tara Jones]

Yes.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I really like having family members included, because we often see veterans being moved to another region, and the spouses have to quit their jobs.

I will now turn to Mr. Dufour.

If I understood correctly, you work with disabled veterans. How many do you work with?

What are the challenges and successes from your point of view?

[Marc-André Dufour]

I will give more or less the same answer I gave to the previous question.

We are a former service provider. We went through a procurement process and together with another company we were responsible for the vocational rehabilitation program from 2009 to 2022.

Only case managers from Veterans Affairs Canada could direct veterans to our services. That was the only possible path for a veteran to have access to our services.

I am sorry, I forgot your last question.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

You said you were a former service provider. What do you mean by that? What was different before compared to today?

[Marc-André Dufour]

The vocational rehabilitation contract was awarded to a new consortium of businesses. Earlier your colleague made reference to a $500-million contract. That contract was given to the WCG International and Lifemark Health Group consortium, not to mention any names. That consortium has been responsible for these services since November.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Dufour.

Thank you, Mr. Samson. I am sorry, but your two minutes are up.

I will now give the floor to Mr. Desilets for two minutes.

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

Thank you, Chair.

My questions are for Mrs. Adams.

This week in committee, witnesses suggested that financial incentives might be interesting for small and medium sized enterprises to encourage them to hire veterans. This could come in the form of tax credits.

Would you agree with a proposal like that?

[Jeannine Adams]

Many of our programs involve subsidies, and they are extremely popular with employers. I would absolutely recommend that.

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

Mrs. Adams, do you get the impression that soldiers, when they leave the armed forces, are properly prepared to face the job market?

I ask because I get the impression that often, or practically all the time, it is organizations like yours that pay the price.

Do you believe that the transition is being handled properly?

[Jeannine Adams]

I would say there's a lot of learning they have to go through, in terms of understanding what their transferable skills are. I feel they do not feel confident in them. They feel everything they've learned, to that point, is of no actual value. They have to go through a process of understanding and recognizing that they do have lots of value.

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

I have one last question, Mrs. Adams.

Do you have any recommendations for our committee?

[Jeannine Adams]

I would say it's opening people's minds to different ways of learning, and understanding these new technologies are of value. For example, something like cybersecurity is an amazing opportunity, because they already understand public service, and the value and risks associated. I think there's a huge opportunity there.

As well, it's subsidizing and opening funding to organizations like mine, where the training is a lot shorter.

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

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much.

We are now going to close this panel with Ms. Rachel Blaney.

You have two minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Adams, I'm going to ask you one big, long question with four different parts. I'll give you the rest of my time to answer.

I checked your website for veterans programs. I saw that the page you have only focuses on the education and training benefit.

Is any of your training created and tailored specifically for veterans?

Can you take me through the process of a veteran applying to be trained with you? Does the veteran come to you? Do you help them with the process of applying for the education and training benefit?

I would also love to hear your thoughts on the process and timeline.

Have you ever had a situation where you had to turn a veteran away because of a lack of funding?

Thank you.

[Jeannine Adams]

Thank you.

Have we created specific programs for veterans? The answer is, no, we have not.

What we have, though, are specific programs for people who have gone through some sort of trauma, whether it's physical, emotional or psychological. Our programs are very much designed to help people through that process.

In terms of the process of helping them with the application, we've built out, on our website, that process. We certainly help people through that. We have administrators who are able to help. That's something we want to do—make sure people are able to access that training, where possible.

Have we ever had to turn down somebody? Absolutely. We've had people who were not able to get funding. I will tell you, though, that, in cases where someone doesn't have funding and we see an opportunity to help, we have a program where we just let people in. We don't charge them, because we want to change their life. We want to make it better. Whether it's someone who's a veteran, or on EI or whatever, we have put them through for free, because it's the right thing to do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Ms. Adams.

That's how we are closing this panel.

On behalf of the members of the committee, I'd like to thank the witnesses for their participation and their work for veterans.

I'd like to thank Ms. Tara Jones, contract manager from Agilec.

I also want to thank Mr. Marc‑André Dufour, regional manager at March of Dimes Canada.

Thank you, also, to Ms. Jeannine Adams, chief executive officer at ReTrain Canada Incorporated.

I'd like to remind you that, if you have anything to send to us, do not hesitate to send it to the clerk.

Thank you.

On that, members of the committee, we will now take a break in order to welcome the next panel of witnesses.

The committee will suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

We can now proceed to the second panel of witnesses.

Thank you for coming. Just as a quick reminder, before speaking, please wait until I recognize you. If you are on video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself.

I also want to welcome one of our colleagues, Ms. Jenna Sudds, who is on the screen tonight.

Welcome to our witnesses. From Prince's Trust Canada, we have Ms. Kathleen Kilgour, senior program manager, operation entrepreneur; Captain Erin Copeland, retired, program ambassador, by video conference;

and Mr. Patrick Lamothe, retired sergeant and program ambassador.

We also welcome Mr. Guy Riel, founding president of The Pendulum Foundation, who is coming to us by videoconference.

Finally, from True Patriot Love Foundation, we have Mr. Nick Booth, chief executive officer, by video conference.

You will have five minutes for your opening remarks. After that, we will start with a round of six minutes, followed by a round of two minutes.

I will begin with Prince's Trust Canada and invite Ms. Kilgour to take the floor for five minutes or less, please.

[Kathleen Kilgour, Senior Program Manager, Operation Entrepreneur, Prince's Trust Canada]

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone, for inviting us here today.

I will be providing an overview and then yielding time to our two program ambassadors who are with us today.

At Prince’s Trust Canada, we believe that a sustainable future depends on our social, economic and environmental strength. With the UN SDGs as our guide and the vision of His Majesty King Charles III as our inspiration, we are helping Canadians prepare for and contribute to a better future.

Operation Entrepreneur is Prince’s Trust Canada’s inaugural program. It was created in 2012 in consultation with military and veteran-serving stakeholders, including the CAF and VAC. This was after a needs assessment revealed an absence of training and support for the approximately 10% of those transitioning and pursuing entrepreneurship or self-employment upon release.

This is where and when Operation Entrepreneur stepped in. We started with one program and 19 participants. Ten years later, we have a full calendar of programming. For example, before COVID, we hosted 120 in-person, one-day introduction to entrepreneurship workshops on bases from Comox to Bagotville and in St. John’s. Since COVID, we’ve hosted over 70 online workshops and will be continuing to deliver in person or online.

In addition to the workshops, we offer weekly online info sessions, speed networking and traditional networking events, intensive business boot camps and mentorship.

We are also the home of BuyVeteran.CA and the Remembrance Week campaign. This national campaign has been incredibly successful, bringing attention to over 700 local, veteran-owned businesses while combatting the damaging stereotypes that negatively impact veterans.

Our annual participation numbers have also grown. Every year, we engage 550 serving members, veterans, reservists, spouses and their families. To date, that’s over 5,000 people. Sixty per cent have been or will be medically released. Twenty-five per cent are women, and 10% of those are spouses.

Finally, while not everybody who engages with us starts a business, the learnings and career development skills gained are transferable. In all that we do, we support forward movement towards a new identity created with confidence, agency, purpose and community.

To share their perspectives, we have Captain Erin Copeland, retired, followed by Sergeant Patrick Lamothe, retired.