Veterans Affairs Committee on Dec. 2nd, 2025

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

It's $129 million. All right. I'm glad we've cleared that up. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you, Mr. Viersen.

I'll now give the floor to Ms. Auguste for six minutes.

[Tatiana Auguste, Liberal, Terrebonne, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank all of you for being here today.

As my colleague mentioned earlier, 94% of Veterans Affairs Canada's budget goes to veterans.

I would like to know how this new budget will affect your operations. Is about 94% of the budget actually still going to veterans?

[Christine McDowell]

In fact, as we have talked about, budget 2025 actually is an investment in the care that we are providing veterans: $184.9 million to allow us to continue the care that we are providing and stabilize those resources to the benefit of veterans.

Additionally, there is $40.1 million to allow us to carry out modernization to our service delivery model to better allow us to serve those veterans who are coming in increasing numbers, as we look at our caseloads. It allows us to make sure that we have services and benefits offered to veterans in a timely, convenient and accessible manner.

Again, I would remind folks that 94% of our budget, of our operations, actually goes directly to veterans.

Thank you.

[Tatiana Auguste, Liberal, Terrebonne, QC]

You're confirming that 94% of that budget will also go directly to veterans.

[Christine McDowell]

That is correct.

[Tatiana Auguste, Liberal, Terrebonne, QC]

Thank you very much.

Last week, we heard from francophone veterans who told us about services in French.

I'd like to know what the status of French-language services is at the moment.

What percentage of people speak French at Veterans Affairs, and how quickly can francophone veterans receive services?

[Christine McDowell]

Madam Chair, I thank the member for her question.

Accessibility and inclusivity in both official languages are very important to us at Veterans Affairs Canada.

In fact, we have undertaken over the past few years very direct and intentional efforts to make sure we have a balance of outcomes for anglophone and francophone clients and veterans.

In terms of our overall performance, perhaps I will turn to you, Steven, to provide some more detail there, but we certainly have been very pleased with the efforts and the results.

[Steven Harris]

Thank you very much.

Regardless of where veterans are in the country, they can receive services in French. We have service contracts with suppliers who offer services in French. At our call centre, we respond to requests from francophone veterans. A range of programs are also available in person or online.

We have French-speaking suppliers, employees and nurses. Other people also make decisions on veterans' applications, regardless of whether they were submitted in English or in French.

Any issue can be brought to our attention. We have the workforce to respond to it within Veterans Affairs, anywhere in the country. With the service contracts we have, we can help people find jobs or assist them with any kind of treatment. We always have the ability to help francophone veterans.

[Tatiana Auguste, Liberal, Terrebonne, QC]

Perfect. Thank you very much.

Earlier, with the minister, we discussed the use of AI at Veterans Affairs Canada.

I'd like to give you the opportunity to clarify a little more about how you're going to proceed.

[Christine McDowell]

Thank you for the question.

Artificial intelligence is a tool we could use to help our employees do administrative tasks.

Allowing those tools to be used to support our staff with administrative tasks, as the minister mentioned, actually frees up capacity for us to work directly with our clients and our veterans, providing that more human touch. We are publishing on the AI registry all those instances where we are using AI in the department. This is to ensure that Canadians know how AI is being used, and it is very much in support of activities. We want to assure veterans that there is no instance where AI, for example, is being used to make decisions about individual cases. It is a tool to support administrative activities.

Did you have anything to add, Mr. Tessier?

[Pierre Tessier]

No. That's fine.

[Tatiana Auguste, Liberal, Terrebonne, QC]

I'll use my remaining 10 seconds to thank you for answering my questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you, Ms. Auguste.

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

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

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I will continue to talk about French.

Ms. McDowell, do you have any statistics or data indicating that veterans were able to express themselves in the language of their choice? It's all well and good to say that services are offered in French; that's easy.

[Christine McDowell]

Thank you for your question.

We are building a workforce primarily in bilingual regions. Being able to speak both official languages—English or French—is a skill required for the job.

As Mr. Harris mentioned, we're able to work in both official languages and offer our services in French anywhere in the country.

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

I'd like to have the statistics. Let me explain why.

I'm caught up in it myself. Veterans tell us that they want to speak French because it then becomes easier for them to express their many emotions.

I've even learned English since 2019, because—off the record—a lot of people speak English.

So please don't make me believe things. I need statistics, because we speak differently in French. We express our emotions differently. We're talking about people who have suffered trauma.

I need statistics because, seriously, I have serious doubts. I experience it too. When I speak my language, I lose time because people don't understand me. You're very good in French, but sometimes people don't even understand my question or they don't use their earpieces. So I'm thinking of veterans who need treatment in their language, even if they're bilingual.

That felt good.

[Christine McDowell]

I understand what you just said. Bilingualism is a value of the public service, so it's acceptable for francophone veterans to have the opportunity to speak and explain their situation well in French. We can provide the statistics regarding our workforce.

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

Everyone has their skills, and those skills are exceptional when we're talking about medical care and health care.

When it comes to our veterans, there really is a gap between understanding the problem and obtaining the treatments required. Several of them told us how simple it was before, because the hospital understood where they were coming from and also understood that what they were experiencing was different. Honestly, it was unanimous. They've all asked for a service delivery that is unique to them.

Is there anything planned? Otherwise, we're not going to get there. We can't interfere in provincial jurisdictions unless we give money. However, as we can see, the money isn't coming.

What should we tell them? Do we abandon them when they finish their service and leave them to fend for themselves in their province? Or are we going to truly invest and acquire built capital with resources to help them continue their life journey and enable them to have a life?

[Christine McDowell]

Madam Chair, we certainly understand and do not want to have veterans placed in an environment where they're feeling abandoned as they consider their options as they transition, whether it's a provincial jurisdiction or a federal jurisdiction.

I will let my colleague Mr. Harris give you a more specific explanation.

[Steven Harris]

We have clinics in each province that offer specific services to Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans, namely the operational stress injury clinics. They provide treatment, they understand the difficulties associated with traumatic injuries, and so on, so we've invested in the provinces to ensure that veterans can get direct service in person.

I can also talk about the great difficulty of having a hospital in Montreal, which isn't in a rural area or elsewhere in the province, to support veterans who don't want to leave the Quebec City or Saguenay region to get a service. They want to be at home. We also have former veterans hospitals that have been transformed into long-term care centres of excellence to support veterans.

In many places in Canada, we have direct access so that veterans can get the care they need in person. However, the challenge is that we can't set up a large network of hospitals across Canada.

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

That's virtual.

In closing, I'd like to get a list of those clinics because a lot of people call us, and we want to refer them.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Ms. Gaudreau.

Mrs. Wagantall, go ahead for five minutes.

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

Mr. Harris, hello.

In the supplementary estimates (B) 2025-26, $10.5 million are allocated to “funding for the federal health claims processing services contract”.

When I see “processing services contract”, is that referring to PCVRS, Lifemark and Loblaws getting additional funding in addition to the $500 million over five years to run that program, or is it actual funding going to assist veterans through the providers that give them the care? Which of the two is that, please?

[Steven Harris]

It is in fact neither. It is in fact a separate contract that we have with Medavie Blue Cross, which does health claims processing services for veterans. In other words, like a health care plan, they process claims that veterans will have when they go and see providers for treatment or for their medications, for example.