Veterans Affairs Committee on March 29th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

MP Roberts, go ahead.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you.

My question again is for Debbie.

I'm so impressed with the efficiency of your organization. After listening to Jean it saddens me to hear about the suicide rate even though there has been, I guess, what you could call an “improvement”—but I wouldn't—from 22 suicides to 14 suicides a day. That is still a huge number.

My question is for you, and maybe Jean as well. If we can be more efficient, do you agree that we could stop these suicide rates by improving the quality of life of our veterans, which they so need and deserve?

[Debbie Lowther]

Providing services and benefits to veterans in a timely manner would certainly help with decreasing the number of suicides, and trying to make veterans aware of the resources available to them to help them with their mental health issues. I think there are things we could do to relieve some of that stress that often leads to suicide.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you.

Perhaps I can ask you this, Jean. You said that you are now an advocate and that you help veterans, which is so wonderful to hear. I'm very impressed with that.

Do you agree that that personal touch and the ability to expedite their concerns would reduce the suicide rates?

[Jean Laurion]

Certainly, it would lower the suicide rate. As I said earlier, today's new generation is talking about it more.

I'll give you an example. The section commander is the section boss. If he goes to his sergeant or warrant officer—excuse me, because usually the section commander is a sergeant—to tell him that he has a problem, he's caught between his men and the warrant officer. In leadership courses, we are taught that we have set the example. So it's very constraining. That's what we were taught in the military.

Fortunately, there is a growing trend of change, but it is not easy.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, MP Anna Roberts.

I'd like to go to MP Rechie Valdez for two and a half minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I'm going to continue the line of questioning from my colleague.

Mr. Laurion, you had a breadth of experience when you served, and I appreciate that you continue to gain additional education through the years. I just want to say that and commend you for everything you've done.

You shared the alarming suicide rates earlier.

What advice can you give our committee to assist in further preventing suicides?

[Jean Laurion]

If Veterans Affairs looked after us at the end of our service, that would be a good preventive measure.

It would be enough to organize meetings with stakeholders. I'll give you an example. At one point, I asked to go to the pain management clinic to understand my pain and demystify it.

The team there didn't know me at all. There was a psychologist, a clinical nurse, a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist. All of them bombarded me with questions for two and a half hours. After that they knew me. They knew what my pains and problems were.

Afterwards, I met with a physiatrist, who developed my intervention plan. Perhaps a team of stakeholders should be set up to meet with these people to determine their needs. It would surely help them to feel better. They would feel valued, understood and supported. That would help them a lot.

Thank you.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you very much for sharing that feedback.

I want to loop back to you, Ms. Montague. You didn't get a chance to finish your answer earlier. Do you want to do so now, if you remember what it was?

[Sayward Montague]

Thank you, MP. I'll pass on that. I don't remember what I was remarking on.

[Rechie Valdez, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you.

I think my time is up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, MP Valdez.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is all the time we have tonight.

On behalf of the members of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, I would like to thank you most sincerely for taking the time to participate in our study, entitled “Fairness in the Services Offered to Veterans: Francophones and Anglophones, Men and Women, and the LGBTQ+ Community”.

I want to thank each of the witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Jean Laurion, for appearing as an individual.

My thanks to the National Association of Federal Retirees: Mr. Jean-Guy Soulière, president; Mr. Anthony Pizzino, chief executive officer; and Ms. Sayward Montague, director of advocacy.

Mr. Pizzino, we had technical problems and unfortunately we were unable to hear from you.

I thank Ms. Debbie Lowther, chief executive officer and co-founder of VETS Canada.

Thank you again for participating in our study.

Members of the committee, do you agree to adjourn the meeting?

There are no objections.

On my behalf and on behalf of the committee members, thank you to the clerk, our analyst, the interpreters and the entire technical team for working tirelessly to ensure that the committee's proceedings run smoothly.

Good night, ladies and gentlemen.

The meeting is adjourned.