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Record of Discussion – 27 October 2022

27 October 2022
12:00 - 14:30 (ET)

Policy Advisory Group Members

  • Sergeant (Retired) Catherine Bergeron
  • Lieutenant Commander (Retired) Lori Buchart, It's Not Just 20K
  • Brian Forbes, National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada
  • Tim Goddard
  • Captain (Retired) Dennis LeBlanc
  • Commodore (Retired) Andrea Siew
  • Scott White
  • Major (Retired) Mark Campbell
  • Master Corporal (Retired) Keith McAllister, Veterans UN-NATO Canada

Regrets

  • Sergeant (Retired) Kim Hendricken, RCMP Veterans Association
  • Lieutenant (Retired) Carolyn Hughes, Royal Canadian Legion
  • Master Warrant Officer (Retired) William MacDonald
  • Dan Bouchard, Canadian Armed Forces
  • Brigadier-General (Retired) Joe Sharpe

Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs

  • Michael P Unsworth

Veterans Affairs Canada Officials

  • Shawn MacDougall, A/Director General, Policy and Research Division (Co-chair)
  • Karen Rose, Senior Analyst, Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach

Presenters

  • Nathan Svensen, Director of Research
  • Mary Beth Roach, Acting Director, Disability and Health Benefits Policy

Observer

  • Bronwyn Rodd, Office of the Veterans Ombudsperson for Duane Schippers

Opening Remarks in Plenary

(Members of all six Ministerial Advisory Groups met in plenary and both the Minster and the Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs brought greetings and provided updates. The Assistant Deputy Minister, Commemoration and Public Affairs discussed procedural items and how to conduct the vote for a Member Co-chair.)

  • 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 thanked the members for their understanding given that the meeting was rescheduled from September to October. He also acknowledged the value of stakeholder feedback and highlighted the important role of advisory group members to contribute and influence positive change. The Deputy Minister then introduced Minister Lawrence MacAulay.

Remarks from Minister MacAulay

  • Minister MacAulay welcomed members, thanked them for their commitment, and acknowledged that the work of the advisory groups will make a real difference. He also highlighted that the advisory groups are a space to speak freely and share thoughts and ideas to help the Department live up to its commitment to respect and deliver care to Veterans and their families.
  • The Minister acknowledged the ongoing priority of reducing the backlog, which has decreased by 50 percent since 2020. He also highlighted the recent 43 million dollar investment to address the evolving needs of Veterans.
  • The Minister thanked those who helped secure Juno Beach as commemorative grounds and acknowledged their importance for education.
  • He highlighted the success of the new Mental Health Benefit, which offers automatic support to Veterans to ensure they receive the help where and when they need it.
  • The Minister highlighted key priorities from his mandate letter, including improving performance and client experience for Veterans and their families, ensuring Veterans have access to benefits and services, recognizing and commemorating the efforts of Veterans with a focus on underrepresented Veterans, addressing Veterans homelessness, and launching the Veterans employment strategy.
  • The Minister acknowledged that there is a lot more work to do, and that he and the Department value the Ministerial advisory groups as key assets in ensuring progress continues. He acknowledged the evolving needs of the Veteran community and wants to hear from members on how the Department can best serve Veterans and their families. The advisory groups were created to provide the Department insight, advice, and recommendations on the issues facing Veterans and their families, so it’s important that members speak freely. He then thanked members for their commitment and contributions.

Closing Plenary Remarks

  • The Deputy Minister thanked Minister MacAulay and then provided some additional updates and recent developments, specifically the unveiling of the final bronze caribou monument was unveiled in Gallipoli in September.
  • He addressed a recent news story on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) and underlined that the Department took immediate action to apologize to the Veteran and immediately investigate.
  • The Deputy then provided updates on recent senior appointments at VAC, including Ken MacKillop, the new Associate Deputy Minister, and Pierre Tessier the new Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy, Planning, and Performance.
  • The Assistant Deputy Minister, Commemoration and Public Affairs, then spoke to procedural items concerning the terms of reference for the advisory groups and the in-camera selection of member co-chairs. She also referenced the Code of Conduct which members are expected to adhere to.
  • Advisory Group members were then transferred to their individual breakout rooms.

In camera selection of Member Co-chair

Group did not have quorum. Brian Forbes was nominated to continue in the role along with Andrea Siew. This nomination will need to be confirmed with the members not in attendance.

Opening Remarks

The Acting Director General (DG) of Strategic Policy and Research welcomed the members and indicated that the former DG and VAC Co-chair accepted a position in another Department and he would serve as interim VAC Co-chair until a new Director General is in place. The Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance, was introduced and attended the first part of the meeting.

Veteran Data from the 2021 Census

The Director of Research provided an overview of Census 2021 and the data released in July on the number of Canadians who have previously served or are currently serving as members of the Canadian Armed Forces. The presentation included statistics on the number of Veterans by age and gender, and by province and territory. This data on the Veteran population will help to better measure how Veterans are doing.

It was noted that in future we will be exploring in more detail some of the findings from the census to help us to understand the Veteran population and better measure how Veterans are doing. More data will be coming in the fall including, data on Indigenous Veterans, race and ethnicity and education and labour data. Now that Statistics Canada has a database, there will be opportunities to combine this new data with other data holdings of Statistics Canada such as Veteran income, incarcerated Veterans and health data. This will help us understand better their experiences and needs in a more comprehensive way. It is important to note that Statistics Canada collects and keeps the individual responses and what VAC accesses is aggregate reports, not individual data, in order to protect privacy and confidentiality.

Studies take time, money and expertise and we will be relying on our Advisory groups for input on priorities when using this census data.

Discussion

  • The need to learn more about people who are not our clients. There was some discussion around estimates used previously were higher than the actual census data with the belief that Military and Veterans chose not to identify and that future work could include a study as to why census respondents chose not to identify.
  • Members spoke to their personal experiences in understanding the programs and services available to them. They also talked about their experiences with Veterans in their networks and communities that do not know about VAC programs and services. Caregiver Recognition Benefit was used as one example of a program that many were not aware of.
  • The challenge for Veterans to understand the criteria for the various programs and services and the complexities of the legislation and the application process.
  • The need for more outreach to Reservists who are not aware they are entitled to benefits. It was mentioned that reservists may not want any injuries noted on their records – believing this may impact future career opportunities such as joining as regular member.
  • The need for VAC to invest more in outreach and engagement and to use multiple channels not just social media as many Veterans do not have access to these platforms.
  • The opportunity for members to educate and outreach to their organizations and networks.

Presentation: Modernization of Health Benefits

The Acting Director, Disability and Health Benefits Policy presented on Modernization of Health Benefits. Members received in advance of the meeting an overview of the Veterans Health Care Regulations that outlined the three main programs authorized by these regulations including Treatment and Supplementary Benefits, Veterans Independence Program and Long Terms Care. She noted that the Regulations have been in place since 1980 and have not been substantially revised since that time. It was also noted that this was an ongoing initiative and there will be future opportunities for the members to provide input and feedback on the modernization initiative.

A number of questions were asked to generate discussion and feedback:

  • What health benefits are required to support the needs of the current Veteran demographic? Do you feel that there are gaps in VAC’s suite of health benefits?
  • Are you aware of any best practices or innovative initiatives in relation to health benefits that VAC should be aware of?

Discussion

  • The Veterans Independence Program (VIP) assists Veterans to remain independent in their home. Among other criteria, a Veteran is eligible for VIP if they have a need that prevents their ability to remain self-sufficient at home. There may be a bias that sees mental health conditions not recognized as easily as physical health conditions as a barrier that prevents a Veteran from remaining independent at home. This unfairly impacts VIP eligibility.
  • The backlog and the wait times for approval of disability benefits is a critical problem that impacts access to health benefits while awaiting a disability benefits decision. The Department was commended in allowing immediate access to specific treatment benefits for those with mental health conditions, but encouraged to expand this access for those with physical disabilities who need immediate access to treatment.
  • VAC programs and their eligibility is complex. Because of this complex eligibility Veterans are overwhelmed and are not coming forward. It is important that Veterans are aware of the benefits that they are entitled to. Veterans need to have information on VAC programs so that they come forward. VAC needs to do more outreach to Veterans.
  • The disability benefits application progress is complex, including the number of forms and the length of forms that need to be completed by a family doctor, psychologist, or other health care professional. Further complicated by the lack of access to family doctors in Canada.
  • The need for a holistic PTSD disability benefits application. With PTSD there are many consequential conditions, and it shouldn’t be for the Veteran to figure out what is connected. All consequential conditions could be automatically included.
  • Access to dietitians could be added as part of the VIP to help people plan their meals and promote healthier eating as part of recovery.
  • Treatment benefits should be backdated to the date of application.

Best practices or innovative initiatives

  • A number of non-traditional treatments or complementary health approaches were identified that could be considered by the Department, including traditional Chinese medicine, therapies that focus on spirituality and holistic healing, ketamine therapy, ayahuasca, to name a few.
  • The need to research and consider the best practices of other countries and how they are approaching long term care for Veterans. Denmark was referenced as a good example.
  • The gap in assisted living . Veterans are covered at home through VIP and in long term care but assisted living is at the expense of the individual.
  • The need for more long term care beds for Veterans. A member spoke to their community of 60,000 where there are two long term care beds available for Veterans.
  • Caregiver Recognition Benefit, the criteria defining an informal caregiver currently does not specify that the caregiver is living with the Veteran. There is a risk that a person could become an informal caregiver to several Veterans in an attempt to receive the monthly $1,083 for several Veterans. This may need to be monitored as the potential for abuse exists.

Closing Remarks

  • A request for VAC to host a National Summit to provide updates from the past four years, as 2018 was the last Summit.
  • A request that in-person meetings resume in Ottawa.
  • The VAC Co-chair thanked members for their honest feedback and advice.
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