Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 8th, 2026

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

We will now invite Ms. Hirtle to go ahead.

You have three minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

Good morning, gentlemen.

Veterans Affairs Canada provides significant financial benefits to veterans who have service-related injuries or illnesses. For many veterans, those benefits can be critical at different points in their lives. At the same time, we have heard concerns about individuals or organizations that may seek to take advantage of veterans while they're navigating the claims process.

Could you speak to what VAC is doing to protect veterans from what are sometimes being referred to as benefit claim “predators”, and how the department and other third party organizations are available to support veterans in their application process? What steps are being taken to ensure that they receive the full benefits they are entitled to?

[Doug Wentzell]

I want to be really clear that veterans do not need to pay private companies or consultants to complete disability benefit applications. Our department offers free assistance services and has also worked to simplify our application process. We have staff across our offices—at transition centres, on bases and wings across Canada, and at Service Canada—who can assist veterans. We also work really closely with our partners at the Royal Canadian Legion and the War Amps of Canada, to name two examples, where we have service officers who can also assist with the application.

The other thing I would add is that we have online guided applications to provide the tools to support veterans in making it easier to complete their own application. While we certainly don't prohibit veterans from working through private consultants and firms to support their application process, we want to make sure that veterans understand that there are equivalent supports available for free through our department and through our partners.

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

I have less than a minute now and I want to check in on PCVRS, which is providing important rehabilitation and vocational services to many veterans. Could you quickly walk the committee through what the department has learned from veterans' experiences with the rehabilitation program? What steps are taken to address where opportunities for improvement are identified?

[Doug Wentzell]

I will try to be as quick as I can on this.

It's very clear that the department is working to listen to what we're hearing from veterans on the rehabilitation program. I will highlight, as an example, a couple of things that we've heard.

Continuity of care is extraordinarily important. It's about working with veterans to ensure that they can continue to access the existing therapeutic relationships they have and that those can perhaps be built upon through the processes that exist through PCVRS. It's also about ensuring that we're working with PCVRS to support recruitment across the country so that there's equity in terms of access in the official language of choice, and about making sure that through the network, which I believe is now up to over 17,000 providers, veterans have access to providers in their community.

Those are some key examples that we've heard very clearly from veterans and that we're working to respond to.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

I have here that you're sharing your time, Ms. Hirtle, so I apologize.

Now for the balance of the six minutes, you have about two minutes and 20 seconds, Ms. Chatel.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac—Kitigan Zibi, QC]

Thank you.

You mentioned modernization. I think it's key to improving services. Could you please explain what efforts the department is making to improve services through modernization and technology?

[Doug Wentzell]

The department, in addition to making sure that we have a network of officials across the country, is investing in supporting more modernized processes and tools to support our processing capabilities.

One example I would share is the claim summary tool, which was launched recently. It basically supports disability application documents to organize what is quite often a very robust package of information brought forward to support our assessment. It highlights key information. It pinpoints items that are relevant to our decision-makers to help them make the important decisions that veterans are relying on us for.

These upgrades, along with a number of IT infrastructure improvements to make sure our systems are robust and easy to navigate, will all work to enhance efficiency and consistency in how we work with veterans from coast to coast to coast.

[Sophie Chatel, Liberal, Pontiac—Kitigan Zibi, QC]

We are undertaking a study on employment. Could you please give us your take on the important study we're doing, especially in the new context, as we said, of dual-use technology and the new skill set that our veterans are acquiring in the CAF?

[Doug Wentzell]

As the minister said earlier, the employment file is a very key priority for us, both to support veterans and to continue to support Canada in terms of the investments being made across the country from an economic perspective.

There are a number of ways we are working to support employment, including, as I mentioned earlier, the career transition services. We work with individuals before they conclude their service to make sure they understand the benefits, the programs and the employment supports that are available. We have a number of different items, including the job bank, that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Mr. Wentzell, I'm so sorry. I mentioned to all of you that I have the responsibility for very few things except the clock. I have to apologize in advance. I want to be fair to all members, so I will have to interrupt you, Mr. Wentzell. We will, I'm sure, have more questions throughout this hour number two.

Mrs. DeBellefeuille, you have the floor for six minutes.

Again, make sure you have your interpretation on. Madame DeBellefeuille will be addressing you in French.

[Claude DeBellefeuille]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Good morning, gentlemen. All three of you are assistant deputy ministers in different branches of the department. Which of the three of you is responsible for conducting the studies to determine whether sexual trauma is a significant risk factor associated with suicide? Which team is studying this issue?

Is it your team, Mr. Adams? Is it your team, Mr. Freeman?

[Mitch Freeman, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs]

I can answer the question.

[Claude DeBellefeuille]

Is it your team?

[Mitch Freeman]

Yes.

[Claude DeBellefeuille]

It's your team. Now that I know who's in charge, can you tell me how long you've been studying this issue and when you will be able to make a final recommendation to the minister on recognizing sexual trauma as a significant risk factor associated with suicide?

[Mitch Freeman]

Thank you for the question. I will answer it in English to provide an accurate update.

I want to start by highlighting the minister's comments earlier this morning around MST being a recognized condition at Veterans Affairs Canada. Any veteran who comes forward with an MST—

[Claude DeBellefeuille]

I'm sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Freeman. The government's response—which I imagine you were involved in drafting—identified trauma as a significant concern but did not recognize it as a significant factor leading to suicide or attempted suicide. You may find me a little insistent when it comes to answers, but I asked you a specific question because I want a specific answer.

I assume that you are currently studying the issue. As the minister told us, you're conducting studies around the world to gather evidence. As I said, the evidence exists. You heard me. You don't have to come up with new evidence. It exists in the United States, Australia and elsewhere.

Now, you're the guy in charge, so I'm guessing you're very good. You plan your work. What is your plan for reaching the point where you can tell the minister that the evidence is sufficient and that sexual trauma must be recognized as a significant risk factor for suicide? That is all I'm asking. I would really appreciate it if you could give me a very specific answer.

[Mitch Freeman]

Thank you for that clarification.

There are two things currently being done in this particular regard.

The first is that whenever a death notification arrives at Veterans Affairs Canada and the cause is suicide, a comprehensive review of that veteran's file is completed in order to determine risk factors: military sexual trauma, health, mental health, wellness, etc. That's the first thing undertaken every single time a notification of death arrives at Veterans Affairs Canada.

The second, as the minister highlighted, is a review of the material that the member is speaking about from a Five Eyes point of view—Australia, the United States and the other members of the Five Eyes community—to determine the applicability. I know the assertion is that it's applicable across the board. What we find in analysis is that there are a lot of similarities, particularly between Australia's research and the Canadian context. We are actively looking at that in this particular context, among others. For example, with women's health research, there's a lot of applicability there that we can ensure is taken into account as policies and processes are delivered.

[Claude DeBellefeuille]

I am 100% convinced that you are taking this seriously. I used to work in a minister's office, and one way to delay things is to hold committee meetings or conduct studies. Eventually, though, that has to come to an end. Someone has to say it's done, the evidence has been reviewed, the issue has been studied and a decision must be made.

When will your branch make a decision and give the minister a recommendation? The recommendation here is for more study. The study will end eventually. As you plan your deliverables, when will this study end so you can make a decision? There's a schedule, a time frame. You can't keep studying this indefinitely. When will your study end?

[Mitch Freeman]

Thank you for the question.

On the time frame wrapped around this process, I look to our research colleagues and teams to provide the amount of time necessary to derive the right answer. Is it five years out? Is it 10 years out? Of course not. However, I look to my research team to come back with what they believe is a reasonable time frame to make a conclusion and then influence policy—perhaps legislation or regulations—in that time frame.

[Claude DeBellefeuille]

You're telling me that you want your team to wrap this up within a reasonable time frame. I have been both a manager and a chief of staff. What does “reasonable time frame” mean? Parliamentarians have been studying the issue of suicide or sexual trauma among veterans since 2024. I think a lot of time has been spent on it. You're an experienced manager. When does your reasonable time frame end? What direction have you given your team? It's really quite a simple question.

[Mitch Freeman]

That is exactly why the work is under way, particularly as I started. MST is a recognizable condition at Veterans Affairs Canada, and any member who comes forward does not have to retell their story. There's no retraumatization, as the minister highlighted earlier. That comes into our disability program. There's a team dedicated to it. It moves through, is processed and is paid for.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

Now we'll start our second round.

Go ahead for five minutes, Mr. Tolmie.