Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for Cumberland—Colchester for bringing this motion forward and for raising this important issue about how we support veterans.
This motion proposes a study on how unused federal lands and buildings could support veterans, including with housing and community services. We support studying these ideas, but let us be clear: This is a non-binding motion. It asks only for a study. Veterans do not live in studies. Already many of them are facing insecurity now, and we already know enough to act.
If this motion passes and the government operations committee undertakes this study, it must hear directly from veterans about their lived experiences, including the veterans ombud, retired colonel Nishika Jardine, who has been working tirelessly to advance the concerns and urgent needs of veterans. This includes mental health supports for veterans and their families, suicide prevention, rehabilitation and other critical services in addition to housing.
I also want to thank the Legions in my riding, across Vancouver Island and across this country and the local non-profit housing organizations that support people experiencing homelessness, including many that support military and RCMP veterans and their families. In the Comox Valley alone, 16 veterans have been identified as homeless, representing about 12% of the total homeless population. This should never happen in a country like Canada. The Government of Canada pledged a sacred obligation to support veterans and their families. This is to ensure care, compassion and respect. This is often, as members know, referred to as the “social covenant”. However, the motion before us would not deliver that.
We can see what works. In Esquimalt, the Veterans House, formerly known as Cockrell House, has been helping veterans transition out of homelessness with safe, stable and on-site supports. I also want to acknowledge Angus Stanfield from the Royal Canadian Legion for getting that off the ground. The model works. It provides dignity, stability and community. However, it totally relies on donations and volunteers, which is why it is not scaled up.
Certainly, we need to implement and use government lands to ensure that all veterans have a safe place to live. We cannot be relying on non-profits to do what the government clearly has a responsibility to do. At a time of a housing crisis, these lands should be used to house people, especially those most affected, including veterans and their families, and of course, indigenous peoples. No veteran and no veteran's family should ever be without a home in this country.
We have heard directly from veterans about what this failure looks like in practice. From Comox Valley, retired sergeant William Webb, who served in the 1st Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, told a parliamentary committee in 2019 that after nearly 20 years of service, he cycled through nine case managers and ultimately became homeless. He said, “Case managers are not aware of what to do when a veteran, like me, is soon to be homeless and then becomes homeless.” If the system does not know what to do when a veteran becomes homeless, then the system is not working.
We need to be honest about how we got here. In 1992, the government pulled out of housing. We know this can be fixed. There are plenty of opportunities, but let us face it: The opportunity is now. Keep public land public, build housing, fund it properly and prioritize veterans and their families.