Veterans Affairs Committee on April 13th, 2026

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

Okay.

Madam Chair, I see that we're going to have to revisit this issue to identify veterans' entrepreneurial profile and the challenges they face. That will be good for our report. As we've just observed, the first challenge is to demystify the entrepreneur and the business, which must be valued and recognized. That's really important.

Esteemed witnesses, it reassures me to see that veterans do have tangible entrepreneur qualities.

Mr. McSporran, I see that there's no special gateway with a tool box to support veterans who want to embark on a business venture, to make them aware of programs or offer them support from organizations, peers or even experts. Is that correct?

[Duncan McSporran]

From my perspective, yes, and I think Nicholas would agree. There are local groups that may be able to support an individual and provide them with advice or mentorship, but there is no clear programmatic system that links all of the resources together from coast to coast. It doesn't matter whether it's a distillery or a high-end defence tech company.

That's part of what we're trying to address with Vimy Forge in the defence and security technologies area. It's to provide that tent that everybody can come into for support as small and medium-sized businesses. Four out of our 10 initial companies in the first cohort for Vimy Forge are veteran-owned or veteran-led.

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

Thank you.

My last question is for you, Mr. Stroesser.

Although many organizations, both federal and provincial, can help you—and you can even find support in the private sector—it all comes down to this: Should veterans who want to start a business have access to support that differs from what's offered to anyone else, like myself, who starts a business, to coach them or even provide financial assistance?

[Nicholas Stroesser]

If I understand the question correctly, you're asking me if it should be the same for everyone. That's a good question, but I don't know. I know that, for me, as I said earlier, $10,000 would have been a big help. For now, I have enough money to keep going, but I'm going to need more money at some point. I've also applied for grants and loans, but because of who I am, I haven't received any response or I've been turned down.

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

Okay. I'll come back to this in the next round of questions.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

Now we will start our second round of five minutes each. We'll start with Mr. Richards.

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

First of all, as has been said already to the veterans who are with us today, whether in person or virtually, thank you for your service to our country. I really appreciate that all three of you came with ideas and solutions, which is really important when we're doing these kinds of studies.

I'm going to dig in on a couple of things, if I can. I'll start with you, Ms. Vanderveer.

You made the comment that there needs to be better guidance on how business income interacts with benefits. That sounded to me like a polite way of suggesting that perhaps some veterans are seeing their benefits threatened, lost or cut back as a result of earning business income. Could you clarify what you've seen in that regard? If that's so, it's a real problem that I think we need to make sure we address.

[Heather Vanderveer]

Yes, it is, Mr. Richards. For example, both John Senior and I are on disability, on diminished earnings capacity, so we are allowed to make only an additional $20,000. The company is new. We have not received funding or grants, so there are days when we are barely keeping the lights on.

The whole premise of what we do is not to make money. I will just state that. However, when I speak with John Senior and with other veterans who own businesses, I hear there is always the fear that if they go above that $20,000 threshold, their benefits will be decreased, and then there's nothing to fill that gap.

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

It sounds to me like we have a situation here where we should be encouraging veterans to use their talents and skills, their very unique talents and skills, but there instead seems to be some disincentivization in terms of what happens with their benefits. You've identified a real problem, and I hope we can address that in our report.

Mr. Stroesser, you mentioned three things that you felt, from your experience and the experience of others you've worked with, could be better. You mentioned funding, which I think has already been addressed with some of the questions. I want to address the other two, which are mentorship and staffing.

You offer mentorship to other veterans looking to start a business. Is any of that referred to you by Veterans Affairs? Is there any connection of Veterans Affairs in that, or is this people who are finding you because they're not getting that support from Veterans Affairs?

[Nicholas Stroesser]

It's the second one. I've been doing this for 11 years. We're big on social media and we're a well-known brand. Over the years, I've had multiple veterans come up and ask for any sort of mentorship. I've pretty much given what I've received and what I've learned. That's something I'd like to do in the future—help veterans. I don't know where I'd be if I'd had that earlier on.

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

Would you say there needs to be at Veterans Affairs some kind of coordination of veterans looking for mentorship, to connect them with other veterans who could provide that mentorship? Is that something that should be coordinated there?

[Nicholas Stroesser]

I believe so. I believe at one point Prince's Trust had something. I was actually approached five or six years ago about being a mentor, but at that time I needed a mentor. As much as I wanted to be one, I really couldn't help. If I didn't have the knowledge, what was I going to give out?

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

On the staffing side, you mentioned that you've reached most people through social media. Have you approached Veterans Affairs in this area? Do they have a repository of veterans looking for employment in a veteran business, or is this something that needs to be established? Could Veterans Affairs do better in coordinating opportunities for veterans looking for employment and for veteran-owned businesses looking for veterans to work?

[Nicholas Stroesser]

I'll be honest; I've only ever googled “Canadian veterans looking for work”, and that hasn't gotten me very far. I think if there was some sort of data bank of.... I don't know if you can do reservists as well as veterans. I'm fortunate that I can speak to reserve regiments here in town and recruit directly. It would be nice to have a bank of individuals looking for work. I want this brand to continue to grow into different areas of the country, and I can't do it on my own.

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

Thank you. I appreciate those insights.

Again, thank you to all of you for coming with solutions. It's so critically important to identify not just the problems but also the solutions. I think you've all come with some great suggestions today that I hope can make our report.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

I would like to advise the witnesses that Mr. St‑Pierre will also be speaking to them in French and English. Please select the language of your choice for the questions.

Mr. St‑Pierre, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Since I'm a Quebecker and a Montrealer, I'm going to ask questions in French, but also in English, for the anglophone witnesses.

Ms. Vanderveer, your work highlights approaches that are truly rooted in the reality of survivors. In your opinion, what elements of community-based models should be incorporated more systematically into public policy to better reflect the real needs of veterans, particularly in terms of complex trauma?

[Heather Vanderveer]

Can you rephrase the question, please?

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Yes. Maybe I'll ask the question in English.

Your work highlighted the approaches that are grounded in the lived realities of survivors. In your view, which elements of community-based models should be more systemically integrated into public policy, or what lessons from serving the community should we integrate into policy-making?

[Heather Vanderveer]

I'm not 100% sure I understand what you're asking. For us, in terms of what we do in supporting survivors, we do what we do because we have found that the community doesn't understand the complexities of military sexual trauma and institutional trauma and betrayal.

Maybe that's why I'm struggling with in how to best answer your question. There is nothing in the civilian community that can support us. This is why we offer the supports that we do.

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

That's great. Thank you.

Mr. Stroesser, I'll move on to you.

I always love a good T-shirt, so I'm a big fan of the work you do. Thank you for all the work you have done. Thank you for your service.

Earlier you mentioned the challenges you had around accessing loans, or you mentioned something to the effect that the loans were quite expensive or seemed to be very prohibitive. I'm wondering if you could elaborate on your own experience with said loans.

[Nicholas Stroesser]

I've never been great with finances, so with that, obviously, the banks are going to laugh me out right away.

Shopify is the host of my website. It offers Shopify Capital, which doesn't have great rates, but it helps when need be. I've also had banks reach out. Well, I don't know if they're banks; I would call them loan sharks. I was denied at one point, and then all of a sudden it was, “Now you're ready for a big loan.” Well, by then I didn't need it.

Again, I don't think giving me $20,000 when I first started would have been a great idea, because I wouldn't have had a clue what to do with it, but maybe with a mentor and a bit of money, I could have avoided some of the blocks that I've hit so far. I'm not complaining about what I've done so far, but there are a few things that could have helped out and would have made it a smoother ride.

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Your business seems to promote Canadian identity and military service through the products being offered. I'm curious about how we can better support the visibility and market access of businesses like yours, especially around promoting Canadian products and Canadian content.

[Nicholas Stroesser]

I know there are a few websites out there that promote Canadian veteran businesses, products and stuff like that. I don't know how the government could get involved in that. I'm sure it could in some way.

Again, the biggest thing would be a bank, a grant of some sort or a low interest rate—for veterans who qualify, obviously. I've almost shut down numerous times, but I have a great job behind me that provides me with a great income. I'm hoping one day that corporate life will be that income, if I can get to that point. Just a bit of money and a bit of help would have probably carried me a lot farther.

[Eric St-Pierre, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

That's great. Thanks for coming in today and for all the great work you do with your business.

I'll move on to Mr. McSporran.

As part of our study on the barriers to entrepreneurship for veterans, do you see specific challenges faced by veterans who are looking to start, expand or grow their businesses?