Record of Discussion - 21 July 2022

21 July 2022
13:30 - 15:00 (EDT)

In Attendance

Members

• Lieutenant (Retired) Robert Bell
• Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Steven Deschamps
• Sergeant (Retired) Alannah Gilmore
• Namita Joshi, True Patriot Love Foundation
• Tamara Kleinschmidt, Trenton Military Family Resource Centre
• Laryssa Lamrock
• Laurie Ogilvie, Military Family Services
• Nora Spinks

Regrets

• Lieutenant Commander (Retired) Charls Gendron, Royal Canadian Legion
• Superintendent (Retired) Dave LeBlanc, RCMP Veterans Association
• Jenny Migneault
• Telah Morrison
• Karine Villeneuve
• Yvonne Watson

Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs

• Michael Unsworth, Special Assistant – Northern & Western, Minister’s Office

Veterans Affairs Canada Officials

• Faith McIntyre, Director General, Communications Division (Co-chair)
• Amy Cormier, Project Monitoring Officer, Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach, Communications Division

Observer

• Joanne Ghiz, Office of the Veterans Ombudsperson

Opening Remarks

(Members of all six Ministerial Advisory Groups met in plenary and the Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs brought greetings. Members were then transferred to the meeting of the Advisory Group on families.)

• The Acting Director General, Communications welcomed the participants to the virtual meeting and introduced the Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs.
• The Deputy Minister welcomed the members and acknowledged that the land from which he was speaking is unceded Mi’kmaq territory he also acknowledged the ancestral and unceded territory of all Inuit, Métis, and First Nations people and took a moment to recognize the importance of these lands that we all call home.
• He spoke to the renewal of the advisory groups that was launched in 2021 and the great response with over 125 applications. He indicated that there was a greater focus on diversity and that today we kick off a new series of meetings with 33 new members and many members that are continuing.
• The Deputy spoke to the goals of the six Ministerial Advisory Groups and highlighted the focus on Veterans and their families. He reinforced the members roles and responsibilities to provide advice, insight, and recommendations to the Minister of Veterans Affairs. He also indicated that the Minister is looking forward to gathering with the members in the fall.
• He noted the importance of hearing from the members and the community in order to understand the issues and areas where we need to improve. He talked about how the advice from the advisory groups has influenced many significant Government of Canada initiatives, including improvements in service delivery, mental health supports, supports for families and survivors, and reduced complexity in accessing benefits.
• He thanked everyone for their participation.
• The VAC Co-chairs were introduced and the members were transferred to their individual advisory group meeting.

Advisory Group on Families Meeting

Roundtable Introductions

• The VAC Co-chair opened the meeting, welcomed all members and began the roundtable introductions.
• The VAC Co-chair recognized and thanked Sergeant (Retired) Alannah Gilmore for serving as Co-chair of the group since 2016.
• The VAC Co-chair briefly introduced and recognized the regrets of those who were unable to join today’s meeting.
• The Office of the Veterans Ombudsperson (OVO) Observer and Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs (OMVA) representative introduced themselves.

Advisory Group on Families Recommendations

• The VAC Co-chair lead the review of the Terms of Reference and highlighted the following key elements:
  • Mandate
  • Role and expectations
  • Code of Conduct
  • Potential requirements for a confidentiality agreement as per updates made by the OMVA in the spring of 2021
  • Selection of a member Co-chair will be done at the first official meeting.
• The VAC Co-chair opened the floor for questions.
• A member asked if there were any significant changes to note from the previous Terms of Reference used. The VAC Co-chair responded that the mandate and scope should be familiar to returning members, as the members worked together to help produce those aspects. The most changes are in the Code of Conduct, Appointment, Dismissal section and information on Conflicts of Interest.

Forward Agenda

• The VAC Co-chair lead an overview of potential forward agenda items that reflect departmental priority areas.
  • At the last meeting, the previous VAC Co-chair provided an overview of Budget 2021 and went over the process for the renewal of the Advisory Groups.
  • Reviewed areas of focus that could potentially but not necessarily be discussion points for the group, including the Caregiver Recognition Benefit, recognizing families as clients, expanding the Veteran family services, as well as developing a family-centric outreach and communications strategy.
  • Discussed the Minister’s mandate letter: reviewing the commitments with a lens focused on families.
• Members shared other suggestions for potential forward agenda items.
  • Housing issues beyond Veteran homelessness, from the family perspective.
  • COVID-19 impact on families and children including schools, mental health, and other distress as well as the need for additional services due to this impact.
  • The emerging issue of Veterans and family members requiring additional financial assistance: financial help, which ties into housing, mental health, and wellbeing of Veterans and their families.
  • Transition and the need to regain purpose during transition for the entire family to find a sense of purpose and inclusion.
  • Answering the question “How are Veterans different from any other Canadian?” to help inform a Veteran-centric approach.
  • The gap in services for adult children of Veterans living with the impact of COVID-19 and of having a parent with mental health conditions.

Next Step and Closing Remarks

• The VAC Co-chair provided next steps, including voting on a member Co-chair, and dates of meetings.
• VAC Co-chair thanked members for their participation.