Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 20th, 2025

[Mark Meincke]

Yes.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

I know that you've spoken to others. I've heard it on your show. How many veterans are you aware of who've had MAID pushed on them by Veterans Affairs, and how many caseworkers are involved in that?

[Mark Meincke]

Thank you so much for asking that.

Last week or the week before, the honourable Mr. Casey made a statement in reply to the veterans that there was only one caseworker. He was quite adamant about it. Hopefully, I can offer some information that shows that can't possibly be true.

David Baltzer is the most recent one who came forward on my show. He was offered it on December 23, 2019. His veteran service officer was male. When I was here the first time, that veteran service officer—I can give you their first name, if I'm allowed to do that—was female. At the bare minimum here, we have two different veteran service officers.

Now, here is my logic about how there were five veteran service officers whom little old me, with no resources, was able to find. Okay, so—

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

I'm sorry. You used the term “service officer”. Are you talking about a case manager or a caseworker?

[Mark Meincke]

God only knows; they can call themselves whatever they want. I'm using it as a generic term.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

Okay. I just wanted to clarify that.

[Mark Meincke]

David Baltzer is the most recent. Veteran number one never used his name, but he sued the government, won the lawsuit and signed an NDA. The lawyers talked to me directly and said he received a life-changing amount of money. His service officer was female and she was in B.C.

On one of my episodes, I called Veterans Affairs Canada. I recorded the call and published it. Anybody can listen to it. All the same questions that were asked of Minister MacAulay at the time, I asked this veteran service officer. The answers at this committee were completely different.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

I'm so sorry, but I have to interrupt you. We have five minutes. There'll be more questions for you from that side of the House, I'm sure.

Thank you very much, Mr. Meincke.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

I thought we had six minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Yes, it was six. Sorry, my clock said six.

[Mark Meincke]

Do I have a moment?

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

I apologize, but I'm going to allow the other member of Parliament to address our witnesses.

Thank you very much.

[Mark Meincke]

Okay, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Mr. Clark, you have six minutes.

[Braedon Clark, Liberal, Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today, for your service and for your stories, and to those of you who continue to advocate on behalf of veterans, thank you.

Dr. Zacharias and Mr. Kowalski, I wanted to ask you a few questions, if I could, around the issue of chronic pain, which I think, as you correctly identified in your opening statements, is a significant risk factor in relation to suicide. Is there any way to know what the prevalence of chronic pain is among veterans coming out of CAF and the RCMP? Is there any data on that to know how many veterans are actually suffering from what we would define as chronic pain?

[Ramesh Zacharias]

Yes. There was the life after service study that VAC published in 2016 and then subsequently in 2019. So that people are aware, in the general population in Canada and, frankly, throughout most of the developed world, 20% of civilians have chronic pain. Of male veterans in Canada, 40% have chronic pain—twice the general population—and sadly, female veterans are at 50%. When a young woman signs up with the Canadian military, there's a 50% chance she will be released with chronic pain and all the other comorbidities with mental health, sleep disorders and depression.

We have reasonably good data, and the situation is similar in the U.S. and in Australia as well. There's a much higher incidence among veterans.

[Braedon Clark, Liberal, Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS]

Mr. Kowalski, did you want to make a point on that?

[Cameron Kowalski]

Thank you.

It would be similar for the RCMP and the CAF, because basically we train similarly. We have injuries that are related to our training and equipment, etc., that lead to chronic pain—it led to my chronic pain—so the numbers would be the same or possibly even higher.

[Braedon Clark, Liberal, Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS]

If you're comfortable doing so, Mr. Kowalski, could you explain to us how, in your personal experience, your chronic pain has contributed to any issues you may have experienced since you left the RCMP?

[Cameron Kowalski]

Yes. My service was particularly long, at 34 years. I can relate my chronic pain to a bunch of different factors, but mainly it was the equipment and the wear and tear of daily operational requirements of wearing 16 to 18 pounds of equipment—your use-of-force options, etc.—around my waist and the vest I wore for protection, which added one or two more pounds. You're standing, sitting, marching and doing all of these sorts of things, but you're also arresting people who don't want to be arrested. The wear and tear is daily, but you have to remember that you also wear the equipment 12 hours a day, four days a week for 30-plus years. Everything weighs you down.

In my particular case, I have osteoarthritis in my neck, in my back, in both knees and in my feet. I have to have my hip replaced. These are all related to injuries I've suffered from my particular chosen vocation, and that doesn't even include the mental health struggles that I had as a result of what I did, what I saw and who I interacted with.

[Braedon Clark, Liberal, Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS]

Thank you for sharing that.

Dr. Zacharias, you touched on this in your opening statement. Based on what you said earlier, obviously chronic pain is a significant problem with a huge percentage of male and female veterans experiencing it, but if it is treated effectively, there could be a significant reduction in suicide risk.

Is there a way to quantify that reduction in risk, and how do you assess successful treatment?

[Ramesh Zacharias]

The clinic I work in celebrated its 50th anniversary two years ago. Over the last 30 years, it's been collecting data on both civilians and veterans who come through our program. We have published data and presented it at international conferences.

What's interesting is that civilians do well, and veterans do better. The reason is that it's part of their DNA that got them into trouble, and it's their DNA that gets them out of trouble. They're very committed, if you tell them that this is what they have to do.

One of the CAF veterans I presented with was one of my patients. When I first saw him in 2017, he couldn't walk for six minutes. Today, he has bicycled 120,000 kilometres and he takes vacations with his kids that he never dreamed he could take. It's been a long journey. Does he have times when he slips? He still does, but he would tell you—and he has testified to this before an audience—that he was very close to committing suicide, and this was the hope he got.

When you can't sleep and you're having trouble with PTSD and pain, there's not a lot of hope in your life. Sadly, too many of them take that course.

[Braedon Clark, Liberal, Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS]

Do I have any time? No. Okay.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Mr. Clark.

To our witnesses, Madame Gaudreau will speak in French, so make sure you have your interpretation set to English.

Ms. Gaudreau, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yikes! I look back on certain things as a member of Parliament. As members of Parliament, we go through many experiences.

I encourage all the members to listen to what the witnesses have to say in order to better understand their life experiences. Seriously, it's worth it.

I wore a military uniform for several hours, not even a full day. Even though I'm a fairly fit person, I realized how suffocating and heavy the uniform can be.

When I look at your build, Mr. Kowalski, I have the following question.

What about women? Is the equipment adapted to their size?

I personally found the uniform quite heavy.