Veterans Affairs Committee on March 4th, 2022

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Thorne, could you tell me approximately how many veterans you support annually? Do you have an approximate figure?

[Oliver Thorne]

Absolutely, we have approximately 175 to 200 veterans per year who attend our program. Each veteran who attends receives roughly 50 hours worth of counselling. We deliver the program over a five-day period. It is fairly intensive.

We are continuing to expand; we want to serve more. For reference, 50 hours of counselling is the equivalent, roughly, of one year of seeing a psychologist weekly. The work we do is very in depth with a relatively small number of people, but we are continually expanding year over year.

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

Great.

Mr. Ross, how many members are there in your organization?

[Todd Ross]

We're a pretty new organization; we don't have an official membership yet. We work with about 200 veterans currently, mostly through informal Facebook groups that are private.

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

Excellent, thank you.

I have another question for you, Mr. Thorne.

You alluded earlier to a transition program. I am particularly sensitive to that and I think that the whole committee is too, because we know and feel that major bugs arise when people leave the Canadian Armed Forces and begin to work in another department. There are problems with transferring files, fitting in, and so on.

Could you please make just one recommendation to this committee with respect to the transition from being a member of the Canadian Armed Forces to becoming a veteran employed at Veterans Affairs Canada?

[Oliver Thorne]

We have an unofficial motto. We say that we're transition focused and trauma informed. Everything we do through our program is with the aim of aiding that transition from military to civilian life.

For the recommendation, I would absolutely echo what Mr. Ross said. We need earlier intervention in that period when people are transitioning from the Canadian Forces to the status of veterans and to Veterans Affairs Canada. What's needed there is education, psychosocial education about the process of transition and how it affects individuals so they can understand what is happening and what services are available to them at that critical moment.

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

Thank you both very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Thorne.

I would like to invite MP Blaney for the last questions. Please go ahead.

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

Thank you.

This has been fantastic. I thank both the witnesses again.

I'm going to come to you, Mr. Thorne. You talked about your organization and the fact that you raise 85% of the funds, and then about 15% comes from Veterans Affairs.

First of all, I just want to thank you. Thank you for providing services for free to veterans so that when they email you at two in the morning, you know that something had happened. That really is a cycle we should see emulated because when people need the help and they're ready for it, the faster the better.

I have two questions for you. One is about the 15% that you receive from VAC, and you said if they meet the eligibility criteria.... You said that several times, so I'd like to know what the eligibility criteria are.

Part two of that question is: Have the eligibility criteria changed over the past nine years that you've been providing services?

The next question is: How do you fundraise the 85%?

[Oliver Thorne]

First and foremost, have the eligibility criteria changed? I believe so, yes. I'm not entirely sure in what way or in what way the processes have changed, but what I can say is that historically 25% to 30% of the clients who have attended our programs have been covered by Veterans Affairs funding. That has dwindled year over year. Now we're looking at 15%, perhaps even less in the previous two years.

To be eligible, they typically have to be in the vocational rehabilitation program. Only a very small number of veterans who seek Veterans Affairs services will fall under that category. In the vocational rehabilitation program, you are typically actively case managed. We need active case management in order to speak to a case manager to have their attendance approved. That is becoming increasingly difficult. We are getting far more noes than we are getting yes's, and again, far more noes than we did several years ago.

Finally, as for where we raise the funds, they're largely from other foundations, charitable organizations across Canada like the Royal Canadian Legion. True Patriot Love Foundation has been a big, long-time supporter of our organization. We also raise funds from the Canadian public and Canadian corporations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Ms. Blaney., and Mr. Thorne.

That's all the time we have. On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank our witnesses for their contribution to our study and for their work. Our witnesses were, from the Rainbow Veterans of Canada, Mr. Todd Ross, co-chair; and from the Veterans Transition Network, Mr. Oliver Thorne, executive director.

Thank you so much to both of you.

I would like to ask the members of the committee whether there is unanimity about adjourning this meeting. I don't see any objections.

Thanks to everyone, including all the staff who assisted us throughout this meeting.

The meeting is adjourned.

Good afternoon to everyone.