Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for your testimony and for your service.
The purpose of this study is to examine suicide among veterans and to try to collect evidence in order to make recommendations to prevent further instances of suicide among veterans. A fair bit of the testimony we heard, or some of the testimony, related to medical assistance in dying. That's not directly an aspect of this study, but some of the things that were said in the opening statements are indeed extremely serious and extremely troubling, so I'd like to address that first. I hope I will be able to spend most of my six minutes on the actual subject matter of the study.
What we know, what has been proven and what has been substantiated is that there was one employee at Veterans Affairs who acted inappropriately in dealing with clients and clients' files and dealing with veterans and veterans' files with respect to medical assistance in dying. At the time that came to light, Minister MacAulay was before this committee. He profoundly apologized. He pleaded that if anyone else had any information about any case, they should please bring it forward and it would be fully investigated.
I'm here today to repeat that plea. I can assure you that counselling medical assistance in dying is not within the mandate of Veterans Affairs. It is not within the mandate of case managers. It is not within the mandate of any of the teams involved. If there is substantiation for the things that have been said today, we owe it to veterans, we owe it to the employees of Veterans Affairs and we owe it to the veterans community to bring that forward, to have it investigated and to have it dealt with. It is my plea that on the information that has been referenced here today, we want to investigate it. We want to attempt to substantiate it, if it can be substantiated. Please—please—bring that forward so that this can be done.
Veterans Affairs policies were updated and those changes took effect on August 23, 2022, directly as a result of the one employee I referred to. The veterans service team, case managers, veterans service agents and veterans service team managers do not have the mandate to discuss, provide advice or suggest to veterans anything related to medical assistance in dying. The service is not within the Veterans Affairs Canada scope of work. When a veteran is seeking advice or help with medical assistance in dying, or brings it up in conversation, Veterans Affairs Canada employees are to refer them back to their treating physician or care practitioner, as this is not within Veterans Affairs Canada's mandated scope of work.
We, and I think all Canadians, realize that medical assistance in dying is something that is deeply personal. It is something that is deeply personal to everyone who is considering that option and their loved ones, and ultimately with their physician—