Evidence of meeting #27 for Veterans Affairs in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was complaints.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marie-France Lalonde
Thank you very much.
Now we'll go to Mr. Casey for five minutes.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Welcome, Colonel Jardine.
In 2023, this committee did a study on the PCVRS contract—which was, at the time, brand new—and offered 10 recommendations to government. Recommendation 10 was directed at your office. I completely understand that your office is not obligated to take direction from the committee; that's not how it's structured. I expect you're aware of it, but—if I may—the recommendation from that report was “That the Office of the Veterans Ombud be asked to publish a report in one year's time on the [effects] the contract has had on Veterans, VAC employees, and service providers.” There was a government response to the recommendation.
My first question for you is whether any such report was published.
Col (Ret'd) Nishika Jardine
First of all, we can't do anything with respect to VAC employees or service providers, and with respect to the contract, there is nothing inherently unfair or systemically unfair about the department choosing to deliver a service or a benefit under legislation by using a contractor.
In the complaints we've received, we have not found a common thread of unfairness, of a barrier to access to the program. The assessments, for example, are, I would say, an irritant; I know that's not the right word. I'm not meaning to minimize it. I know they're deeply frustrating to veterans, and they can be retriggering. However, in and of themselves, the assessments aren't a barrier to the program. I did not find in all this time a common thread that would say there's an unfairness here, a systemic problem, that we need to investigate.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
Thank you.
Of the 100 complaints you received, six of which you looked into—I know I'm not phrasing that correctly, so I'll get you to correct me—how many of those six came from members of Parliament around the table?
Col (Ret'd) Nishika Jardine
I'm sorry. I do not know how many would have come through your offices.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
That would also go for the 94 that didn't merit being further examined. Is that right?
Col (Ret'd) Nishika Jardine
It's not that they didn't merit being further examined. It's that, for more than half of them, we reconnected them back to the department. They hadn't already complained to the department, and the department is usually able to resolve them. The rest of them didn't proceed or whatever.
When the veteran comes to us, we don't ask them, “Did it come through your member of Parliament?” That part I'm unaware of—if they had been to one of your offices first.
Liberal
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
Okay. Thank you.
I understand you've done some advertising to try to get feedback from veterans. You mentioned earlier that you had something on your website.
Col (Ret'd) Nishika Jardine
We put out social media posts. When I'm out talking to veterans during my town halls, I always encourage them, and ask them, whenever I hear a service provider or someone say there's a problem, to submit a complaint to us.
Liberal
Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE
I had a look at your social media. On your Instagram post, you received exactly no public comments. On your Facebook post, you had 38 likes, 33 comments and 31 shares. Three of the comments were positive. Three were negative. A few were on different topics, including—I'm sorry—criticizing your own office.
Have you followed up on any of those, including the positive comments?
Deputy Veterans Ombud, Office of the Veterans Ombud
If someone has a specific complaint, we will follow up off-line with them and ask them to submit a complaint to our office. We don't go online in front of everyone else and do it that way.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marie-France Lalonde
Thank you very much.
We'll now go to Ms. Gaudreau.
Mrs. Gaudreau will ask a question in French.
Ms. Gaudreau, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I am really concerned about the consequences of the budget cuts that were announced. We've heard from the Bureau of Pensions Advocates and others. This is a very serious matter. There are already backlogs, and more are anticipated for April.
Will you be ready to absorb that pressure? Do you think you will suffer the consequences of that?
Col (Ret'd) Nishika Jardine
The Bureau of Pensions Advocates is closely related to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board. There's a bright line between the work they do and the work we do. No one needs to go to the Bureau of Pensions Advocates to complain to our office. There is no impact from anything to do with the bureau or the Veterans Review and Appeal Board and our office. There's zero overlap between our two mandates.
Bloc
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I may have misunderstood what you said in your opening remarks.
What are the main complaints you receive? Are they about timelines? Are they about the quality of services?
Col (Ret'd) Nishika Jardine
The top complaint we receive today is about the denial of treatment benefits.
Second to that—it has slipped down to second place—is the wait times for the disability claim, which we can't help with but we can look into. Often we're able to help the veteran understand why, perhaps, their claim is on hold, which maybe they weren't aware of.
The number one complaint we receive is about the denial of treatment benefits. Let's say the disability claim for a veteran's right knee is approved. They get an approval on the claim. Their doctor prescribes something for them as treatment, but the department denies them access to the treatment or they don't reimburse the treatment. That's the number one type of complaint we receive.
Bloc
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
In fact, I would like us to have all these details for the report to be submitted as part of our study. That would give us a better understanding so that no one can say that this is a systemic problem.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Marie-France Lalonde
Thank you, Ms. Gaudreau.
We have Mr. Viersen for five minutes.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the ombudsmen for being here today.
One thing you mentioned earlier in your comments was that you felt frustrated sometimes by being shackled in what you can and cannot do. If fairness is the thing, where is your opportunity to advocate for veterans broadly? Do you have that?
For some other ombudsmen, that's their role. One of the last pieces of it is to advocate and speak on behalf of veterans broadly. Do you have that as part of your mandate? I couldn't find that online.