Veterans Affairs committee  Thanks again for the question. As you would appreciate, we cannot speak to the situations of individual veterans with respect to the way in which benefits are administered. I'd be happy to take any questions with respect to general issues on a program that would be of interest to you.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think that in general when we look at whether benefits are in place or when they may be removed, they're applied against the context of the situation that they're found in. In other words, circumstances and situations could change for individual veterans, and their access and eligibility of veterans may also change as they go through a process of rehabilitation, treatment or any number of other things.

Veterans Affairs committee  Quickly on this, what I'd say is that there are a number of different ways in which we can approach and support veterans in mental health. Case management is one. The opportunity for veterans to participate through the occupational stress injury clinics is another. Over the course of the last year, the transition for the occupational stress injury clinics has been quite good in being able to move to that virtual support and platform quite quickly to continue to support people through a very difficult pandemic.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. I'll start responding, and then I'll ask Mr. Freeman to provide additional information. The purpose of the family resource centres is to meet the specific needs of medically released Canadian Forces members and their families. We've established 32 military family resource centres, where coordinators support not only veterans, but also their families during the transition period.

Veterans Affairs committee  My first response is that you'll have to ask the ombudsperson herself why she decided to put it in or included it as a recommendation. With respect to our obligation to look at everything from a GBA+ lens, we do that on a regular basis. Crystal and her policy team, and Mitch and his service delivery team, continue to look at the application and the way in which programs—all of them, not just the caregiver recognition benefit—are actually managed.

Veterans Affairs committee  I might ask Crystal if she wants to chime in here.

Veterans Affairs committee  I wouldn't have the specific figures to respond to the question of how many of those veterans have been vaccinated, at this point. As the committee member would be aware, provincial governments across the country are in the midst of deciding exactly how the vaccinations are being rolled out.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think the answer to the question is that the systems are actually quite different. In the health care system in the U.S., as you've referred to with respect to veterans, the veterans administration actually runs the hospitals and runs a lot of the facilities where veterans are being supported through long-term care facilities.

Veterans Affairs committee  Crystal, do you want to talk about the specifics of that?

Veterans Affairs committee  The calls were made to find out how the veterans were faring during the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine whether they needed more support.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely, the caregiver can be whoever is providing that care to the veteran. That's why, in part, the change was made to ensure that the payment was going to go to the caregiver who's involved. There are some definitions with respect to exactly who can be a caregiver with respect to age and other things, but it could be a non-family member, certainly.

Veterans Affairs committee  First, Mr. Chair, if I may just ask, I'm not sure which document the committee member is referring to, but we'd be happy to share the—

Veterans Affairs committee  We'd be happy to share information back on the definition of “caregiver” and “family” to the committee member.

Veterans Affairs committee  Is this a question specifically with respect to the caregiver recognition benefit or any other programs or services?

Veterans Affairs committee  They weren't courtesy calls.