Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 19th, 2023

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

Thank you. I think that's enough. I appreciate that, Minister.

I'm going to ask you a question.

A veteran who is confined to a wheelchair goes into Veterans Affairs, and it's recognized that they are confined to a wheelchair from a service-related injury. Do they, in your opinion, have to prove that year after year after year? If so, what does that do to their dignity?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I think we need to make sure that our veterans receive the services they need and the compassion and empathy they deserve.

With respect to the process that's in place, I'm going to defer to my colleague here, my ADM, as I'm not aware of all of the steps that need to be taken. I don't have a problem admitting that. I'm not the one who does the arbitration of these types of cases.

I'm sure that Mr. Harris would be more than happy to elaborate on the process.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, we have a veteran here who has been from pillar to post, having to prove time and time again that they have gone through service-related injuries. They have to do all this paperwork to prove that over and over again.

What does that do to their dignity?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You have 20 seconds, Mr. Harris.

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

I'm sorry. I was asking the minister.

I was asking what it does to their dignity.

What, in your opinion, does it do?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

With respect to process, Mr. Tolmie, I'm not aware of each and every step. I want to be clear with you. With respect to proving other medical conditions, I agree. If an individual is in a wheelchair, I do not understand why that occurs. Again, I would ask Mr. Harris to perhaps provide—

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you so much. The five minutes is gone now.

Now I would like to invite Mr. Bryan May for five minutes. He is on the screen. Oh, no—he's right here.

Go ahead, please.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I wasn't hiding on you. I promise.

First of all, Minister, thank you for being here. I do apologize for the behaviour of some of my colleagues and the constant interruptions. I promise I will give you ample opportunity to answer every question.

I will agree—

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

Point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Excuse me, Mr. May, but there's a point of order here.

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

Mr. Chair, anytime that I wanted to have an answer, I went through you, sir. I was acknowledged.

I would like an apology.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

I don't think I mentioned your name, sir. You're making some wild assumptions that I was referring to you.

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

Well, you came right after me.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

That's true. I don't get to pick when I answer these questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Okay. Please, members of the committee, I know the committee is doing a lot, so I would like all of us to take it easy, to be relaxed and continue.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you.

I will agree, however, through you, Mr. Chair—

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Yes, please, Mr. May, go directly to your intervention, please.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you.

I will agree with my colleague's intervention somewhat with respect to the importance of trust and of establishing that trust with veterans. I was the chair of this committee for two years. I was parliamentary secretary for the Minister of National Defence for two years. I can tell you that I spoke with a lot of members, both veterans and those transitioning to become veterans. I'll tell you, one of the ways that we establish trust is by continuing to support them.

One of the ways that we've done that in this government is, of course, by reopening the veterans offices that the previous government closed. We also changed the criteria to allow more veterans to be qualified for the supports. Of course, the impact of that created the backlog, which you talked a little bit about, Minister.

It's continuing that work and continuing on that path that will develop that trust. Trust is earned. It's not something we can snap our figures and solve or throw money at and solve. It is earned, and it is something we need to continue to work towards.

Minister, through you Mr. Chair, this is a new role for you. I know that prior to politics your work was in social work. I'm wondering if maybe you could speak a little bit to the priorities you have in this role and the ability to draw from your previous experiences of providing service and listening to folks and how those might impact your priorities as the Minister of Veterans Affairs.

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Thanks so much, Bryan, for that question and for the opportunity to respond and perhaps talk a bit about my list of things to do and my priorities, as I've tried to explain to the member opposite.

As you've indicated, the backlog is certainly a top priority. We've dealt with about 75% of that backlog, but it's not just the backlog. We are seeing an increased volume of cases coming in, and that's a good thing, because people are applying for the services they need and deserve. We need to continue to make sure that we are tackling that backlog, and we can't take our foot off the gas when it comes to that.

The other thing as well, when it comes to commemoration, is what I talked about in my opening remarks. We really want to make sure that we do a better job of commemorating our modern-day veterans. Be it the Swissair disaster or the Afghanistan mission—the list goes on and on—we need to make sure as a department that we recognize and thank the veterans who have served on these missions. That is absolutely a priority of mine.

Finally, when it comes to the equity-seeking groups, we have a lot of work that needs to be done. Ms. Blaney talked about women veterans. That is an area of great interest to me. We certainly recognize that about 15% of CAF members are female. We are going to see more female CAF members becoming veterans, so we want to make sure that we have the appropriate services in place for them to meet their needs, because their needs are very different from those of men in some estimations.

For indigenous veterans, we certainly have to do a better job of making sure that they have access to the services they need as well.

Another area that I've heard a lot about recently is long-term care for our veterans. We certainly recognize that we have a baby-boomer generation that's happening right now, and some of them are getting older, and they are kind of wondering what that is going to look like for them. That's also an area in which I'm extremely interested in making sure that we see some movement.

Also there are our 2SLGBT+ veterans. Again, a lot of work needs to be done in that area.

Those are the priority areas that I have and the areas of interest where I certainly want to make sure we can make significant difference.

My background is social work. I was a frontline social worker for 23 years. I'm not a career politician, if you will. Perhaps now I am, but I am a lady who wants to listen to people. I want to build bridges together. I want to work collaboratively, and that is why I made it a point to go out to communities and meet with stakeholders. It's important to hear from folks on the ground and to hear from our veterans who are sitting here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. May.

We'll now start the third round of questions.

I'd like to invite Ms. Wagantall for five minutes, please.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Welcome, Minister. I appreciate your being here and answering our questions.

You've mentioned the importance to you of doing better with efficiencies to improve things—in other words, to do better. So I have three things that I just would like to mention for you to consider.

I have been on this committee since I became a member in 2015. I think I am the matron of the community now. I have a lot of good friends who are veterans, and they talk to us. Again, this is where we really need to go to get our information for how to do better.

I would say that what veterans are saying is that they should not have to go through the effort of re-proving their injuries and conditions over and over and over again just because VAC changes policies and procedures. There has to be a way, once they have shared the information and their case managers have their information.... It is there, so any benefit of the doubt and any information they have given should be once and for all. That is how they feel.

I see you indicated that you disagreed with the report's finding on the new contract for the administration of Veteran Affairs Canada rehabilitation program, where we found there was a lack of communication in consulting with veterans. I can assure you that it is not a good take on that situation and that a lot was missed. Our veterans in this circumstance, after facing backlogs and then suddenly having this change of third party services, think it was a mistake. That is just my perspective from their perspective.

Also my understanding is that, regarding the backlog, when a veteran's file is missing documents and the department has to go back to the veteran, that takes their case out of that backlog number. I would check that out because it's not accurate. It's not right. At that point, Veterans Affairs should be bending over backwards to help them to get those papers in.

Third, we do have a case here today, and I would like you to answer this question. Because of their not wanting to go through all of this again for that third party dynamic and because the case manager already has all of the files that my friend here has, he was threatened and is in a situation where he is no longer receiving his funding because he has not followed through with expectations, when his feeling is that his documents are there and available to VAC.

Do you feel that is right?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Again, as I've indicated, if there's a veteran here who wants to meet with me, I'm more than happy to have that conversation with him or her, and to discuss that matter.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Okay. Thank you very much.

I would certainly hope, on the basis of that example alone, that for every veteran who has not met whatever timeline is involved in this third party agreement, in no cases should any of them have their funds no longer provided until they meet that expectation. I believe that's Veterans Affairs' responsibility at this point, not theirs.

How much time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You have two more minutes.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Okay.

I think I'll leave this other question for later, but if you have anything else that you would want to share in that regard.... Are you aware of where files go when they're back in the veterans' hands, in that brown bag or letter sent to them where they have to provide more information? Are they still in that backlog list or not?