I have a point of order.
Evidence of meeting #81 for Veterans Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was police.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #81 for Veterans Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was police.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6:05 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
I'm sorry to interrupt. I just want to alert everybody.
MP May, your microphone is on. We can hear your phone call.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you.
It's over. Thank you, Mr. Casey.
Mr. Paul‑Hus is joining us. Welcome to him.
We now go to Mr. Desilets for two minutes.
6:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. MacDonald, six years after the terrible events you told us about, do you feel as though the handling of sexual assault and harassment complaints has gotten better?
6:05 p.m.
Master of Social Work, As an Individual
As I mentioned to Sean Casey, for people to be able to go directly to the Human Rights Commission is a good thing.
The stuff that's happening now, with things being removed from the military, is very helpful, because there have been a lot of issues of victims' cases being fumbled or mishandled and the evidence not being produced properly. I think that's purposeful on the part of the military. They're not doing it correctly because of the culture.
I think they still have a long way to go. I don't think much improvement has happened, but I appreciate the things you guys are doing to try to make that trickle down.
6:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
You still know people in the military. Eight years later, has the culture gotten better, in your view?
6:05 p.m.
Bloc
Luc Desilets Bloc Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
The culture in the military is rather unusual. Obviously, I'm talking about the fact that the person being accused can actually be in charge of the investigation.
Given what you've seen and what you're hearing from people, have things gotten better six years later?
6:05 p.m.
Master of Social Work, As an Individual
I've been hearing from some friends who are currently enlisted that it is a lot better than it used to be in terms of their acknowledging that it's not right and how new members are being trained. However, there are still issues in terms of women and men going through basic training and getting sexually assaulted, which is not acceptable and shouldn't happen.
There's some change that's happening, but the core changes that need to occur are not happening. Some of it is just the military not employing common-sense environmental health and safety rules when they're putting on the training because this is the way they always did it or this is how they did it in the 1970s, so this is how we're going to do it in 2024.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Desilets.
We now go to Ms. Blaney for two minutes.
February 7th, 2024 / 6:10 p.m.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you so much, Chair.
I hate to correct you, Cathay, but actually, there are published national standards for all animal-assisted human services. They're not specific just to service dogs, but they do include them. Ms. Joanne Moss wrote to our committee to let us know that this work could be done. Again, I think it's very important work, because it took it out of the organizational level, which obviously created a lot of conflict, and set up some standards. Hopefully, what we'll see happen next is VAC using those standards so that there can be more supports for organizations that provide service dogs as long as they meet those standards.
That leads me to my next question. I am going to come to Mr. Sawyer and Ms. Sharp. I'll start with you first, Ms. Sharp, and let you answer first, and then Mr. Sawyer could add.
Because this study is very specifically about women veterans, I'm wondering if you could share, Ms. Sharp, what specific parts of your serving as a woman your service dog Stoker has provided support for. I think that's incredible. You really articulated it well. I've heard from other veterans as well that they won't leave the house unless they have their service dog. I'm wondering if you could talk specifically as a woman who's served your country about how it helps.
Then if Mr. Sawyer has anything specific about women accessing the service from the organization, I would really appreciate it.
6:10 p.m.
Member, Canadian Veteran Service Dog Unit
One of the biggest things Stoker has given me is that sense of safety. I am single. I live alone, and I am not looking to have anyone else in my life, so as someone who lives alone, there's always been a bit of feeling less safe for myself. Even though Stoker is not trained to do it and Stoker doesn't have any sort of attack commands or anything like that—he's my giant teddy bear—I know that if anything happened in my home, he would alert me to it, and that sense of safety is invaluable. Being able to sleep through the night and not have concerns that someone is going to do something to me in my sleep is absolutely invaluable.
As well, we've spoken about how, within the military, being part of a unit or a section almost gives you that element of family, and because of my experience in the forces, that family experience wasn't necessarily the best. Now, within the dog unit, I am part of a unit where I feel safe and comfortable with my male peers. It's the first time in a very long time that I have been able to have male peers who are veterans and feel safe, comfortable and respected.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you very much, Ms. Blaney.
It is over for the first hour, so on behalf of members of the committee and me, I thank our witnesses so much for being here with us today. We have, as an individual, Mrs. Paula MacDonald, and from the Canadian Veteran Service Dog Unit, Mr. Dwayne Sawyer as president and Christina Sharp, member. If you have anything you'd like to add, you can send an email to our clerk, and it will be really interesting.
Members, we're going to take a short break of one or two minutes, so I'm going to suspend and we're going to stop.
The meeting is suspended.
6:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
We are back.
In the time we have left, it would be great if we could quickly adopt the budget of $38,500 for the transition to civilian life study. The proposed budget was sent out to committee members for consideration.
I also want to point out that, if the committee wishes to go anywhere during the travel period from April 1 to June 30, 2024, a detailed budget has to be submitted to the Subcommittee on Committee Budgets of the Liaison Committee by February 16, 2024.
You should have all received the proposed budget for the transition to civilian life study. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the budget?
(Motion agreed to)
6:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Okay. I will sign all the paperwork.
As I said at the beginning of the meeting, I have a commitment so I have to leave at 6:30. It would be great if someone could stand in for me so the meeting could go until 7:10.
Go ahead, Mr. Sarai.
6:15 p.m.
Liberal
Randeep Sarai Liberal Surrey Centre, BC
Unfortunately, Chair, I will have to leave at 6:30. I have an event as well. If you're asking for consent, I can't grant consent.
6:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Yes, I will have to have the consent of members of the committee to go past 6:30.
I'll go to Mr. May and after that we'll have Ms. Blaney.
6:15 p.m.
Liberal
Bryan May Liberal Cambridge, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First and foremost, I give my deepest apologies for my rude interruption during the previous testimony. Thank you, MP Blaney, for your point of order on that.
You talked briefly about travel budgets. I just want to make sure I didn't miss something.
Are we proposing a trip of some sort? If so, I have some—
6:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Mr. May, I'm sorry. We just said we have consensus on the budget.
Unless we ask the committee to look at it again.... We just said there is no problem to adopt the travel budget. You're talking about—
6:20 p.m.
Liberal
Bryan May Liberal Cambridge, ON
I misunderstood.
I apologize. You said “travel budget”, so I thought a trip was bring proposed. It's my mistake.
6:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
No, excuse me. I just said that we have until February 16 to send....
6:20 p.m.
Liberal