Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 12th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Good morning. I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 82 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Today we begin a new study on transition to civilian life.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format pursuant to the Standing Orders.

I would ask the witnesses and members of the committee to pay close attention when they speak to avoid bringing their earpieces close to the microphone because that can cause feedback. Since our interpreters are here to assist us in our proceedings, we need to safeguard their auditory health.

A reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

Before welcoming the witnesses, I would like to note that today, on an exceptional basis, we have with us Diana Ambrozas, analyst, who is replacing Mr. Paré.

I would also like to welcome Heather McPherson, who is replacing Ms. Blaney.

Welcome to Ms. Lisa Hepfner, who is now an official member of the committee.

I would like to welcome our witnesses.

In the first hour and a half of the meeting, we will hear from the representatives of two departments.

From the Department of National Defence, we have with us Commodore Daniel Bouchard, commander of the Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group.

From the Department of Veterans Affairs, we welcome Steven Harris, assistant deputy minister, service delivery branch; Jane Hicks, acting director general, service delivery and program management; and Mark Roy, area director central Ontario.

Each of the two departments will have five minutes for its introductory remarks, after which the members will ask questions.

We will begin with the Department of National Defence. Mr. Bouchard, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Commodore Daniel Bouchard, Commander, Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group, Canadian Armed Forces, Department of National Defence]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

My name is Commodore Daniel Bouchard, commander of the Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group.

I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered here on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation, and to take this opportunity to remind myself, and everyone here with me, of our commitment to meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous leaders and people across the land.

I want to begin by thanking the committee for your interest in better understanding the transition process and support that we provide to our members as they make the important decision to take off their uniform. This is an important topic because first and foremost, we have a duty to take care of our people who put service to Canada before self.

As the commander of the Canadian Armed Forces transition group within chief military personnel, I can assure you that I am committed to ensuring our members receive the supports they need during this important life change. More specifically, within the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces, I'm responsible for military career transition, which provides services to serving or retired members; healthy, ill and injured members; and families of a deceased member.

Given the unique nature of our jobs, sometimes our members become significantly ill or injured. Whether their injury is physical or mental, they may require enhanced support through a return-to-work program or a transition within the Canadian Armed Forces or to post-military life. That is one of the reasons why “Strong, Secure, Engaged” in 2017 directed us to create the Canadian Armed Forces transition group. My organization delivers personalized, professional and standardized casualty support and transition services to Canadian Armed Forces members and their families to enable seamless transition and enhance well-being. This includes special attention to those who are ill and injured personnel, their families and the families of the deceased.

I am proud to inform you that the transition group will be reaching full operational capability by 1 April, 2024, becoming the default transition process for all regular force members transitioning out of the military. We are currently in the process of extending our services to members of the primary reserves, cadet organizations, administration and training service, and rangers. That means that all the 27 transition centres located across the country will integrate one-stop centres where releasing members and their families can use the applicable services we offer, delivered by trained professional staff, who will offer a personalized transition experience to each member.

We recognize that each individual of the Canadian Armed Forces has their own unique experience and identity factors that need to be considered. That is why we have a tailored transition process that is founded upon the seven domains of well-being, which are purpose, finances, health, social integration, life skills, housing and physical environment, and cultural and social environment.

In addition, we have also developed and implemented several digital tools in support of transitioning members and their families, which are available at the “Digital Transition Centre” and can be accessed via the Internet at Canada.ca, military career transition. These include a transition app; “My Transition 101” training; a skills and education translator; the second career assistance network, which is available online; and “My Transition Guide: Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life”.

Among the many resources, I want to highlight the three key programs that we deliver to help support CAF members, veterans and their families.

There's the operational stress injury social support program, also known as OSISS, which provides peer support to CAF members, veterans and their families who are living with an operational stress injury.

Next is the helping our peers by providing empathy program, also know as HOPE, which supports our members and military families who have lost a loved one. With continuous peer support and education on grief, the program helps bereaved individuals to better understand and provide coping strategies during the process of grief unique to our profession.

Finally, Solider On, is a Canadian Forces morale and welfare services program that contributes to the recovery of ill and injured members and veterans by providing opportunities and resources through sport, recreational and creative activities.

These are just a few examples of the great work that my organization is doing, in close collaboration with Veterans Affairs Canada and our valued partners, to ensure our members and their families are informed, prepared and empowered for a successful transition. Our members give their best to Canada, as each of us is sworn to do. That is why the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces is committed to ensuring that our members have a seamless transition experience and have the supports they need to navigate this important career and life change.

Thank you once again for this opportunity to appear before you today. I look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bouchard.

Right now, let's get to Mr. Harris for five minutes please.

Go ahead.

[Steven Harris, Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs]

Good morning and thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for inviting us to appear today on the important topic of transition.

I am Steven Harris. I'm the assistant deputy minister for service delivery, and I'm joined today by my colleagues Jane Hicks, director general, and Mark Roy, area director.

As you well know, transition is the process of change from military to post-service life. On average, 8,200 Canadian Armed Forces members, both regular force and primary reserves, transition to life after service each year. While every member will experience transition, the experience is not the same for every member. No matter the length of service, rank or reasons for releasing, it is a major life event that comes with strong emotions, both positive and negative, and some degree of challenge and stress.

A successful transition to civilian life is dependent on many factors, including health, financial security, housing, community integration, identity, and employment or other purposeful activity.

At a departmental forum that we organized in 2022, one veteran explained the challenges he faced in transitioning and looking for meaningful employment. He accurately summed it all up when he said that, when members are in service, the mission is always number one, but when those members transition to civilian life, they become the mission.

According to the study on post-military life published in 2019, 39% of veterans reported that they had had trouble adjusting to civilian life following their service. Those who are released for medical reasons are twice as likely to report experiencing issues during and after their transition as those who leave the forces voluntarily or who are released at the end of their period of service.

This is why we've committed our efforts to reduce the complexity of the transition process while enhancing the well-being of CAF and RCMP members and veterans and their families. Since 2015, VAC and CAF have been offering enhanced transition services to medically releasing members. As part of these enhanced services, we engage earlier with medically releasing members and their families to provide coordinated and integrated support.

Early intervention is key and is of critical importance in a successful transition process. Through this enhanced process, VAC has increased its participation in service to medically releasing members during their pre-release stage of transition.

In 2019, in co-operation with the Canadian Armed Forces, we designed a joint military-to-civilian transition process for non-medically releasing members and their families. As part of this process, transitioning members are supported by both the Canadian Armed Forces transition officers and advisers and Veterans Affairs staff, who jointly help provide assistance in transition planning. The new approach was being trialled at Canadian Forces Base Borden in 2019 and then at Base Petawawa in 2021. It is now being implemented nationally and will be fully operational by the end of 2024.

In addition, the Department of Veterans Affairs provides 27 full-time or part-time staffed transition centres on Canadian Armed Forces bases and squadrons across the country. At all those centres, the department offers transition planning services, including transition interviews and awareness and training seminars.

In a transition interview, departmental staff provide releasing members with advice on how to file applications for programs, establish connections among members and support them in accordance with their needs.

The Canadian Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs transition centre staff conduct briefings on each base and have face-to-face meetings and seminars with Canadian Armed Forces members who are considering transition. This helps to provide important information on Veterans Affairs benefits and services, as well as information on services offered by other organizations. Transition training is available online in the form of My Transition 101, which is recommended for all releasing members and covers a diverse range of topics.

In addition to these joint initiatives, Veterans Affairs Canada offers various benefits and services to assist releasing members with their transition.

For example, the veteran family program offers medically releasing veterans and their families continued access to the military family resource centres and to a suite of programs, courses and group sessions. Other benefits and services offered include disability benefits designed to recognize and compensate members and veterans for service-related injuries.

We also provide rehabilitation and professional assistance services as well as an income replacement benefit that provides 90% of pre-release pay while veterans are in the rehabilitation program.

Another important component of our work is our focus on education and employment. Our education and training benefit provides funding for veterans to pursue education and training that will support them in a successful transition, help them to achieve their education and post-military employment goals, and better position them to be more competitive in the civilian workplace.

We also offer career transition services that include help with career counselling, résumé writing and job search assistance. In collaboration with the Canadian Armed Forces transition group, ESDC and the employment group's job bank, veterans can search a job bank specific to them to help find a new career.

Veterans Affairs has used LinkedIn. The group has approximately 5,000 members and has generated an average of 8,700 quarterly engagements as well as a series of webinars to provide direct connections and employment opportunities. They've attracted 2,000 to 3,000 veterans and transitioning members.

Veterans Affairs continues to improve service delivery by enhancing digital tools and increasing early registration. Our objective is to deliver standardized, personalized and professional transition support that empowers Canadian Armed Forces veterans and Royal Canadian Mounted Police members and their families after the transition.

Thank you very much. We look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Harris.

I would also like to welcome the veterans in the room, because we have a few here.

We're going to start the first round of questions of six minutes each.

I invite MP Terry Dowdall to take his six minutes, please.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

I want to take the opportunity to thank our witnesses here today. Those who have served receive a special thanks.

I'm happy that we're here today trying to help our veterans transition and move on in their lives.

I've had the opportunity—I know I'm new to this committee—to read “A Seamless Transition to Civilian Life For All Veterans: It's Time For Action”. They did the same kind of study in 2018. I'm curious to know some of the recommendations and some of the responses that came through at that time, where we are today and how it's moving forward. I'm glad to hear about the transition group in 2024. It's been six years, pretty much.

The government launched Canada's first-ever national housing strategy in November 2017—this is in the study—recognizing that housing is a key aspect of building an inclusive society and providing economic security for all Canadians and those in the military.

We have had many people reach out to my office—and, I know, to other members' offices—who are homeless at this particular moment in time. I'm wondering what exactly the government is doing to help those individuals ASAP, and how many veterans are homeless, if you have a number.

[Steven Harris]

Thanks very much for the question.

Perhaps I can start. I would certainly invite my colleagues and Commodore Bouchard to offer some observations as well.

With respect to homelessness, a veteran homelessness program has been announced. It's in development with our partners at Infrastructure Canada, building on the national housing strategy that we put in place.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Do you have a rough timeline, though, because we're in somewhat of a crisis?

[Steven Harris]

It's not my program specifically, but my understanding is that it will be within the next couple of months. It was announced and is under way in terms of the preparations to launch the program, so it should be launched in the next few months.

That program will help by providing rent subsidies for veterans who are either at risk of homelessness or experiencing homelessness. That's an excellent new addition to a program that will help anyone who's facing the issue of homelessness at this point in time, because we have not previously—in the government, and certainly not within Veterans Affairs—had access to a rent subsidy program.

We have some temporary measures that are available to help veterans who may be experiencing or who are at risk of homelessness. We have a veterans emergency fund that veterans and their families can access in case of emergencies that may find them out of safe housing or lead to them being out of safe housing. Those are some temporary measures.

We have a number of income replacement benefits that help support veterans by providing financial security, but there's nothing specific for housing and homelessness. In this case, the rent subsidy program that's coming into effect will be very helpful for our staff in terms of helping veterans and for helping veterans themselves.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Don't you think, though, that should be one of the top issues at this time, and there should be some real hard timelines to make sure that opportunity...?

How many veterans are homeless at this particular moment in time? Do you know?

[Steven Harris]

There are a variety of estimates that exist for homelessness with respect to veterans. Somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 is usually an estimate that's used.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

It's quite a gap.

[Steven Harris]

It's because of the difficulty in trying to count the number of veterans for self-identification purposes. In other words, it's the veterans identifying themselves as part of the counts that take place in institutions that are helping homeless people, such as outreach centres that are helping homeless individuals.

Sometimes veterans identify themselves. Sometimes they don't. That makes it a bit more difficult.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Do you think it has gotten better or worse since we've recognized this issue?

[Steven Harris]

I think some of the circumstances globally and within the country have changed to make housing more difficult. It's certainly not hard to look at the news and find that housing is a main struggle for individuals across the country, be they veterans or not.

I think the challenges that exist with respect to housing across the country are affecting veterans as equally as they may affect others in these cases. In terms of whether it's getting better or not, I think the new veteran homelessness program will be significant in helping veterans be able to access rent subsidies and be able to find actual housing in the areas they are choosing to live.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Recommendation 15, was to better “harmonize treatment options offered by healthcare professionals to transitioning serving members and veterans”. We have heard from many veterans that this doesn't seem to be the case. It's one of the common issues that have been brought to light since I have been here.

Has there been any improvement on that since 2018?

[Steven Harris]

If you may, I might ask Jane and the commodore to weigh in on those two issues.

[Jane Hicks, Acting Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There is an alignment of treatment benefits programs between the Canadian Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs, whereby members who have a service-related condition can let us know, and they can contact our provider Medavie Blue Cross and request their treatment benefits so that when they release we ensure their treatment benefits are aligned. If there are any discrepancies, they can let us now and we can work with veterans to determine the way forward for those who need it.

In addition, for those who need a doctor, when they're releasing we have a telemedicine service for one year post-transition to allow members to transition from the Canadian Armed Forces to the Canadian health care system.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

I don't know why we're getting so many people coming forward. I don't know if it's confusion or what it is, but from what I'm experiencing here in the committee, it doesn't seem to be improving at all. I don't know if you want to look at, as I said, the 2018 report.

Are there metrics that we have on some of the suggestions there? You came back with your government response and said you would monitor some of these issues. It doesn't seem like there are a whole lot of numbers for a lot of the questions that we often ask here, like how many veterans are...? For any of the questions we have, it doesn't seem like we get numbers very often. I just don't know why that is.

Why don't we get numbers when we're looking at all these reports all the time? It says, “We're going to work on it. We're going to try. We have a new committee going out.” Whatever you're looking at trying to solve, there should be numbers that show we are moving ahead and we are becoming more successful. I don't seen those.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You have 15 seconds if you want to answer.

[Jane Hicks]

Certainly, data is a challenge. There's no question, but we do have data on telemedicine and some data on the number of individuals who are accessing alignment of benefits. Again, awareness is a challenge, and we recognize that not everyone is aware of that. That's why, with our work on transition services, early intervention is key in trying to let members know what's available to them, how to access it and what their benefits and services are.

[Terry Dowdall, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

There seems to be a lack of communication, sometimes—that's how it seems.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Mr. Dowdall, I'm sorry, but we have to move on.

Now I invite MP Randeep Sarai to go ahead for six minutes, please.

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Surrey Centre, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses.

We heard a lot about the importance of ensuring that the transition to life after service is as smooth as possible. Can you talk about the new military-to-civilian transition process?

Maybe I'll start with you, Mr. Harris, or anyone on the panel.

[Cmdre Daniel Bouchard]

The new military-to-civilian transition process is working with our partners to deliver a professional and standardized but also personalized transition for all of our members and also their families. It's putting them at the centre of the transition process. It's a five-step process that goes from when you make that decision and understanding your decision to transition, to preparing a plan—as in all of our missions in the military, the plan is very important—to undergoing the training for it, to the execution of the actual transition process, during which time you can adjust the plan accordingly, and then to a successful transition to civilian life. It's done across the seven domains of well-being to facilitate that planning process and to establish the plan itself and the mitigating factors when there are some issues that need to be looked after.