Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise tonight to speak on behalf of thousands of homeless veterans in Canada.
In February, veterans gathered in Ottawa for the “Left in the Cold” protest to raise awareness about growing levels of homelessness among Canada's veterans.
Just down the street, veterans Trevor Sanderson and Dick Groot, who drove all the way from Winnipeg, were protesting by sleeping outside in the cold. In testimony at committee, the co-founder of VETS Canada said the number of homeless veterans had grown to 5,000.
In fact, we just heard from Danny Lafontaine, a public relations officer with the aboriginal veterans' association, that when he was in Montreal one day in 2015, they met with 3,200 homeless people, and 6% of them were veterans. We need to bring that number to zero. It is totally unacceptable for any veteran who risked their life for our country to be left to fend for themselves on the streets.
Last November, 29,000 veterans were waiting for their applications for disability benefits to be processed. Nearly one-third of these applicants have been waiting for a response for four months or longer. According to Scott Maxwell, the executive director of Wounded Warriors Canada, the backlog “can mean the difference between being a homeless veteran and not.” These wait times are unacceptable, and they only continue to grow.
The government has now committed $42.8 million over two years to address the backlog in processing the increased number of claims but has not told us what it would cost to get that number to zero. It has to get to zero. That is what veterans deserve. The men and women who risked their lives on behalf of our country should be assured of economic security and assured that their needs, including the needs of their families, will be taken care of.
Many veterans are falling through the cracks because they are not aware of the various services that are available. In a recent news article, the same Trevor Sanderson, who also suffers from PTSD as well as physical injuries, said that he was unaware for two decades that he qualified for a payout. Unfortunately, he is not alone. He said that many veterans are unaware of the services that they qualify for and then face long wait times.
Why do they not know about their programs? The government that campaigned on doing more for veterans has failed at the most basic level. Clearly its actions are just for show and not for change. The government must do better to inform veterans of the available services and benefits they are entitled to.
Both Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to address the problem of homeless veterans. If veterans do not know about these services, it is impossible for them to take advantage of these opportunities. We must break this terrible cycle today.
This morning, Trevor Sanderson told me that he is going to Saskatchewan on Saturday to repair a roof for a secluded veteran. On June 27, he plans to go to Nova Scotia to help fix a PTSD retreat that was damaged by storms last year. This is the type of sacrifice our veterans continue to exhibit. Now it is our turn to do the same for them.
He told me, “The homeless vets that are living in Canada are the forgotten brothers and sisters that need to be found and that together as a country we should not forget the promise that we made to them for the service that they did and only working together can we find a way to help them find a place again to call home.”
To show veterans the respect that they deserve, we must address the root problem. The government continues to promise that veterans will be treated better, but its promises are falling short. The Prime Minister said veterans are “asking for more than we are able to give right now.” Veterans risked everything, and we need to make sure that we follow the sacred obligation we have for them.