Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 2nd, 2025

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you.

Can you expand on the seven domains of well-being for me, please?

[BGen Serge Ménard]

The seven domains are related to the sense of purpose of the person, the situation related to health, the housing situation of the person, the person's social network, the aspect of respect and recognition, the financial security of the person and the ability to adapt and cope. Those are the seven domains that we assess when we meet the person.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you.

The Canadian Armed Forces transition group provides education and training on transition from military to civilian life for members. Can you tell us which transition services are offered to CAF members and their families? What impact do you think these services have?

[BGen Serge Ménard]

First I'd like to say that we try to meet the person as early as possible when they think about transitioning. It can go up to six months before they decide to retire, so we want to extend the transition period and fill the gap between their time in service and when they become a veteran. Again, based on the analysis of the seven domains, we provide support to those members related to issues or risks that we've identified through the analysis.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Someone said earlier that not all veterans are clients. Do you have a sense of how many veterans are not currently clients? Is there any way to know?

[Steven Harris]

The census would tell us there are 461,000 veterans in Canada. Depending on any given time, maybe a third of them are clients of the Department of Veterans Affairs. We also provide supports for our Royal Canadian Mounted Police veterans as well, so they're included as part of our client group.

Not every veteran who releases from the military requires the support of Veterans Affairs, but we are here whether they need it, whether they are releasing and going through that transition process or whether somebody comes back to us five, 10, or even 50 years later. We've had people come back with illness or injury related to their service that they've been dealing with for a long time.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Do you think that a period of six months is sufficient, or should we be starting earlier before they're released?

[Steven Harris]

I think it's a sufficient time. We always have to work with our Canadian Armed Forces colleagues to help make sure that when military-serving members are thinking about release, if they want to release, that's great. If they want to do something else in the Canadian Armed Forces and move somewhere else in the area, that's fine.

I think six months is sufficient as part of the transition, but what we need to do is to make sure there's follow-up post-transition in case there are issues that develop during that period of time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

We're now in our third round.

I will invite MP Viersen to speak.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.

When we think about why people commit suicide, there's generally a whole number of questions they're asking: Why does evil exist? Why are we here? There are things I've done, things that I've seen. What's my value? Does anybody care? These are all questions that suicidal people are thinking about.

Many of our church communities have answers to all of these questions. We've seen over the last number of years a fairly hostile treatment of church communities by the government. We've seen attempts to strip them of their charitable status and perhaps attacks on the chaplaincy saying they shouldn't pray in public and things like that.

I'm wondering, Mr. Harris, what the relationship of your organization is with our faith communities, our church communities, across the country. Do you engage them at all in providing the services that your department provides? I know that our church communities have the answers to lots of these questions and have the resources to support veterans. They are also able to provide a sense of community and a sense of camaraderie to veterans.

Could you comment on that?

[Steven Harris]

I'm not sure how broadly I can speak to this. I can indicate that pastoral services are available through our VAC assistance service. If individuals are facing difficult challenges and they reach out, we can help to connect them with a range of faith-based pastoral services.

I know a number of organizations were quite keen and interested in helping people who are suffering from homelessness, mental health issues, or addiction issues. I believe there have been a number of homelessness-based shelters that have a faith-based connection that are equally supported through some grants from Veterans Affairs in our veteran and family well-being fund in the past as well.

We would certainly encourage individuals to find their comfort wherever they need to find it, and that's important.

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

I guess you can particularly pick on one of the churches. The Salvation Army has a very military feel to it. It seems like an easy bridge to cross essentially.

What's your relationship with the Salvation Army?

[Steven Harris]

I'm not sure we have a real relationship from a holistic point of view. They frequently attend remembrance and commemoration ceremonies. You'll often see them there. They are a very good charitable organization to help in areas where government or other community entities can't help, so they are a very present organization. I wouldn't say we have a whole-scale relationship on any front.

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

Is there a particular reason why?

[Steven Harris]

No. I'd say they are just one group amongst many who help to support veterans, so we would have connections with them in that sense.

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

Is there any direction given to not pursue that relationship?

[Steven Harris]

Absolutely not.

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

Okay.

I'll switch gears. Other countries around the world have similar challenges with veterans and suicide. The Americans have really integrated that with lots of the social media companies around identifying potential suicide attempts and suicide victims.

Do you have a relationship with some of these big players, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram? Not all veterans have an online presence, but some of these people are very active. I'm thinking about Instagram, in particular, where they recognized that their services were causing suicides, so they put a lot of effort into trying to prevent suicide.

Have you had these conversations with any of these organizations?

[Steven Harris]

We've had some partnerships with social media companies around things like commemoration and, in particular, Remembrance Day, where they partnered on a particular element or two. We do a very significant mental health benefit campaign quite literally often in social media to ensure that—

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

Have they ever flagged to you, “Hey, we suspect a veteran is suicidal. Can you reach out to them?” Has that ever happened? Is there a process for that?

[Steven Harris]

No, we've not had that happen where somebody has come forward from a company or a social media point of view.

We don't monitor social media outside of the accounts that are controlled by Veterans Affairs. If there are comments on our own social networks, then we'll take action to address them if we can and follow up with somebody who might be expressing something that is troubling for them, but that would only be on our social networks.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Auguste, you have the floor.

[Tatiana Auguste, Liberal, Terrebonne, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Harris, in your opening remarks, you mentioned the Joint Suicide Prevention Strategy. Could you give us more details to help us better understand what this strategy entails and what specific issues Canadian Armed Forces members face before and after their release and transition to civilian life?

[Steven Harris]

Thank you. I will ask my colleague Ms. Courchesne to answer that question.