Chair and honourable members, I thank you for the opportunity to appear today.
My name is Heather Vanderveer. I'm a Canadian Armed Forces veteran and a co-founder of Alberta Recoil, a veteran-led organization providing peer support, advocacy, consulting and training for military members and veterans affected by operational stress injuries and military sexual trauma.
Before I continue, I would like to pass on regrets from my business partner John Senior, who wished to be here today to testify, but unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, couldn't.
Today, I would like to speak to a gap within veterans policy that is often overlooked: Veteran entrepreneurship, particularly among female veterans, is not being adequately supported within existing systems. Despite commitments to gender equity and improved veteran outcomes, female business owners are still unintentionally being excluded from funding opportunities, partnerships and program development, especially when their work focuses on peer support, prevention, education and community well-being. These barriers are not always explicit, but they are persistent. Veterans bring significant strengths into entrepreneurship: discipline, mission focus, leadership under pressure, logistical problem-solving and, most of all, lived experience.
Veterans Affairs has acknowledged that military skills are transferable to business ownership. However, the system has not fully adapted to support veterans who choose entrepreneurship as their transition pathway.
Veteran entrepreneurs continue to face systemic challenges, including limited data and visibility, uncertainty around how business income interacts with VAC benefits, inconsistent decision-making when entrepreneurship is part of rehabilitation, transition times that do not align with the realities of building a business and administrative burdens that are particularly difficult for those managing service-related injuries. At its core, the system is designed to transition veterans into employment, not into building a business—and that distinction matters.
There is also an internal divide that must be acknowledged. Within veteran entrepreneurship, there is a noticeable gap between officers and non-commissioned members. Officers often transition with recognized credentials, stronger institutional networks and familiarity with procurement systems. These factors create clearer pathways to advisory roles and funded opportunities. Non-commissioned members, despite extensive operational leadership experience, often transition without those same networks or recognition. For women, particularly those from non-commissioned backgrounds, this gap is even more pronounced. They face a higher credibility threshold that directly impacts their ability to succeed.
Through Alberta Recoil, we have delivered structured, three-day peer support workshops specifically for veterans affected by military sexual trauma. To date, we have supported over 125 participants. These programs were developed in direct response to the complex realities of military sexual trauma and are delivered in trauma-informed environments that reflect military culture, barriers to disclosure and the long-term effects of institutional betrayal.
Despite this work, women veterans continue to struggle to access support for these programs. There is limited recognition, limited integration and very little institutional uptake. In fact, we have had more success working with the RCMP and partners in the United States than we have with our own veteran systems.
To my knowledge, Alberta Recoil remains the only organization in Canada providing structured, multi-day, MST-specific peer support programming of this kind. We have collaborated with the SMSRC, the military and the RCMP. We continue to show up, but credibility remains a barrier.
I will say this plainly. If my background were different and if I fit a more traditional or more accepted profile, this conversation might be very different.
What needs to change? First, entrepreneurship must be formally recognized as a legitimate transition and rehabilitation pathway within VAC policy. Second, there must be clear and consistent guidance on how business income interacts with benefits so that veterans are not discouraged from pursuing entrepreneurship. Third, funding and partnership opportunities must be more accessible to veteran-led organizations, including those led by women and non-commissioned members. Finally, credibility must be earned through outcomes, not assumed based on rank, gender or background.
Veteran entrepreneurs are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for the opportunity to contribute solutions, many of which the government has already identified as necessary. The capacity exists, the experience exists and the need is clear. The system simply needs to catch up.
I thank you, and I welcome your questions.