Thank you, Chair.
I'm delighted to be joining the committee here in Ottawa on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people, who have lived on this land since time immemorial.
Federal Retirees is the largest national advocacy organization representing not only the federal public sector, but veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP, as well as their partners and survivors. Our nearly 170,000 members from coast to coast to coast and in every federal riding advocate for better retirement income security and a strong, sustainable health care system for our members and all Canadians and, relevant to this committee, for more equitable outcomes for veterans.
Federal Retirees is also proud to co-chair the Women Veterans Research and Engagement Network, or WREN. WREN's mission is to work collaboratively to ensure equitable lifetime outcomes for all veterans.
In 2017, Federal Retirees held a series of town halls and digital surveys across the country, reaching out to our veteran members and their families, and to the broader community. We were keen to learn what veterans struggled with and what worked well. We heard from hundreds and followed up with a series of meetings that brought varied stakeholders together, and we tabled two substantive reports.
In those 600 pages of reports, though, there was not one mention of women veterans' specific needs, interests or concerns. We had unintentionally silenced women veterans by not ensuring they had a voice and a role in co-developing the consultation and report. We've since learned that one in five of our members who are veterans are women. To do right by all our members, our advocacy program shifted to active as opposed to passive inclusion of women veterans' voices to advocate for equitable outcomes for all veterans. We've done that by bringing Federal Retirees' recommendations on women veterans' issues forward to both our association members and parliamentarians during the last four federal elections. We have also done that by securing political meetings and discussions required to ensure that equity issues such as improved intersectional data collection and publication become standard across defence-related government departments. We ensure that women veterans' voices are heard directly, including within Federal Retirees' Sage magazine, and by association-sponsored events on veteran identities, which included Christine Wood and Michelle Douglas, two recent witnesses to this committee.
The 2022 budget signalled a commitment to more equitable outcomes, with more than $144 million over five years and $31.6 million ongoing to expand the armed forces health services and physical fitness programs to be more responsive to women and gender-diverse military personnel. This has a direct impact on outcome for those serving, and eventually on veterans. It was in addition to and separate from funding promised in the 2021 budget to the tune of $158 million over five years for sexual misconduct and gender-based violence supports in the military.
Budget 2023, by contrast, has little to say about veterans or health equity in the military context, besides $115 million in funding to help Veterans Affairs Canada to deal with the perpetual backlog and to retain case managers. Veterans are hearing that VAC had unexpected cuts to some of its budget requests, including requests to make temporary jobs permanent.
It isn't always clear what the problems are or what the plan is to solve those problems. Gender blindness in military and veteran systems, including in health care, result in systemic, sex-based biases, research gaps and increased rates of injury and illness resulting in unnecessarily high rates of medical releases for women—potentially around 50% of women's releases from the military. There is an opportunity to make a difference in research. It's the best way to inform good policy that makes a difference.
It's well past time for Canada to focus on equitable outcomes for those who serve, and not only on things like wait times. This means a dedicated plan, funding, goals, transparency in reporting and accountability to achieve the desired objectives across relevant departments. What we ask Veterans Affairs to adjudicate is directly linked with what happened during service or how the armed forces and the RCMP take care of occupational health and well-being.
The committee must be congratulated on the focus and breadth of this study, but success of the study will be defined by what you and your colleagues decide to do with the evidence being brought to you. With focus and will, it's possible to ensure that future generations of Canadian military women and veterans have very different stories to tell.
Thank you.