Veterans Affairs Committee on May 8th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mrs. Wagantall.

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

—that it is still available?

[Paul Ledwell]

I'm happy to provide that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

That's more than six minutes. Thank you.

I'd like to go now to Mr. Bryan May for six minutes, please.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of the officials for being here.

In the previous hour, I asked the minister specifically about the reports that we're hearing regarding the technical glitch.

Mr. Harris, you spoke a bit about it. I'm wondering if there is anything you could add to that testimony.

[Steven Harris]

Thanks very much.

What I'd add to the testimony is a couple of clarifying remarks.

There are three particular categories for priority status for releasing Canadian Armed Forces members.

One is based on medical release. These individuals were not affected by the issues in the data transfer with PSC. Those are our most severely affected veterans leaving the Canadian Armed Forces as a result of a medical condition. Their priority status was actually without any trouble.

There are two other categories of individuals who might be affected. It's Canadian Armed Forces members who could see opportunities in the public service across the country outside of the geographic area within which they would normally have access to opportunities. They weren't able to see those other positions, because the trigger that allowed them to do that was not in the system. The other group is a group that might have had priority status for hiring as part of public service competitions.

As I said, we've been working with the Public Service Commission, which is leading on addressing this issue. They've had a number of information sessions for all veterans who were affected by this, where they've shared information and shared the work that they've undertaken to try to address this and will continue to do. They're currently conducting a review of existing public service competitions to see if any adjustments need to be made, but they're doing a good job of keeping veterans and Canadian Armed Forces members who are affected aware of what's going on.

As we know, employment is a key issue for veterans. We've spoken a lot, today even, about economic issues. Many veterans, when they leave the Canadian Armed Forces, want to go and work in some capacity somewhere else—sometimes in the public service, sometimes in the private sector. Veterans Affairs has a number of programs, like an education and training benefit, like career transition services, to help them on that journey as well.

The minister is committed to releasing a national veterans employment strategy as well. I know she's working on that, and we will expect to see that in the near future as well.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Do we have a timeline on that?

[Steven Harris]

It's near-term.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Near-term? Okay. Very good. Thank you for that clarification.

I believe my next question is going to Assistant Deputy Minister Meunier, who is here virtually.

In budget 2024, we propose to provide $4 million in 2024-25 to Veterans Affairs Canada to commemorate significant Canadian military milestones. Can you tell us how this investment will help VAC to better commemorate our veterans?

[Amy Meunier, Assistant Deputy Minister, Commemoration and Public Affairs Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs]

Sure. Thank you very much for the question.

The proposed allocation of $4 million in the budget presents, as you've noted, a very valuable opportunity to honour and recognize the diverse contributions and experiences of our veterans. This will enable us to implement a range of commemorative initiatives.

Some specifics would include bringing a delegation over to France to celebrate the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. It will also support another delegation that is going over to Cyprus in November of this year to recognize Canada's longest peacekeeping mission.

We also will be able to recognize veterans of more recent operations or missions, through additional educational materials, working with teachers across the country, more in-Canada events, building up greater awareness of more recent missions among Canadian communities and doing more interviews with modern veterans or veterans of more recent missions, so that we're sharing their stories and they're captured for many more years to come, as well as further developing our website, which can house a lot of these stories.

Furthermore, this funding supports the development and implementation of programs that, again, foster understanding, dialogue, and appreciation for some extreme stories, really, of veterans of recent years. We'll be able to highlight the diversity of veterans and better represent those populations who really had their stories hidden away and not told. The budget money really will help us achieve greater heights in this regard, and I'm very much looking forward to working on these initiatives.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you for that.

There was previous testimony last fall about the importance of commemorating the modern-day veterans, and you spoke a little bit about that here. When we think of veterans and Canadians think of veterans, far too often we're thinking only of World War I or World War II veterans. I've been to many ceremonies throughout the years, for both Remembrance Day and otherwise, at which there have been very specific veterans.

Can you speak a little bit more about how we can do more to commemorate modern-day veterans?

[Amy Meunier]

Thank you so much for that question.

We recognize that if you asked an average Canadian what they envision or think of when they hear the word “veteran”, they might think about a World War II veteran or a veteran of the Korean War, but Canada has 460,000-plus veterans here, many from modern conflicts.

It's part of making sure we take an opportunity to recognize those key milestones, that we're better telling the stories and that we're talking about the Canadian Armed Forces and their domestic efforts.

Over the last year we've taken time to put together educational materials and events to recognize the Red River flood, the ice storms and the downing of Swissair Flight 111.

However, more importantly, our “CAF Around the World” commemorative strategic plan, which is available on our website, really allows us to hone in and focus on particular regions and areas so that we can better tell those stories.

I would say that we're coming at it from several approaches—education and awareness, community engagement—

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you very much.

[Amy Meunier]

I'm sorry. I have lots to say. My apologies.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

No, but the time is over.

Ms. Meunier, thank you very much for your comments.

I will now invite Mr. Desilets to take the floor for the next six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Ledwell or Mr. Harris, I understand that the last post fund has seen a fairly significant decrease in its financial capacity since 2018-19. Yet we're told that veterans' cemeteries are in a pitiful state. Can you explain that?

[Paul Ledwell]

This question is more for Ms. Meunier. It's the part of the department she belongs to that manages all that.

Still, I can tell you that a lot of work has been done to restore cemeteries to the state they should be in, across Canada, out of respect for our veterans. A lot of work has been done over the last five years. That work is ongoing. We're following a process to ensure that work is done every year in the cemeteries, and that will continue. The fact remains that the bulk of the work was done last year.

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

Even so, the last post fund's financial capacity has been reduced.

[Paul Ledwell]

Yes. However, this reduction was expected, given that the bulk of the work has been done over the past five years.

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

There's a cemetery in the Montreal area that you're probably very familiar with, the National Field of Honour, which was established in 1930. Can you tell us what kind of funding or assistance the department provides in that case? There's also a private component to this funding, but how much of it is funded by the department?

[Paul Ledwell]

I'll ask Ms. Meunier to tell us more about those obligations, but I would point out that amounts are available for all cemeteries, even those with a large number of veterans in them. These places are very important to us. We have those responsibilities across the country, not just for specific cemeteries.

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

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Harris, can you give us an update on the processing times?

[Steven Harris]

Thank you for your question.

Since 2020, we've reduced the backlog of applications by 77%. So now there are only about 5,000 files waiting to be processed. In addition, last year, the wait time for francophones was 19.3 weeks, on average, whereas it was 20.3 weeks for anglophones. So the files that were processed the fastest last year were those of francophones. Finally, 35% of employees who process files late and make decisions are bilingual.

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

I would say it's about time francophone files were processed a little more quickly.

Can you give me some details on the gap between men and women in terms of the backlog of their applications?