10 December 2025
13:00 – 15:00 ET
Virtual - Microsoft Teams
Health and Well-being Advisory Group members
- Sergeant (Retired) Michael Blais, Canadian Veterans Advocacy (co-chair)
- Dave Gallson, Mood Disorders Society of Canada
- Sergeant (Retired) Alannah Gilmore
- Warrant Officer (Retired) Craig Hood, Royal Canadian Legion
- Corporal (retired) Victoria Jonas
- Captain (Retired) Tarik Kadri (co-chair)
- Dr. Stewart Madon, Canadian Psychological Association
- Dr. Don Richardson, Canadian Psychiatric Association
Regrets
- Sergeant (Retired) Chuck Isaacs, Aboriginal Veterans Society of Alberta
- Corporal (Retired) Dennis MacKenzie, Brave and Broken
- Warrant Officer (Retired) Brian McKenna
- Captain (Retired) Robert Thibeau, Aboriginal Veterans Autochtones
- Dr. Gail Wideman, Canadian Military and Veterans Families Leadership Circle
- Dr. Brent Wolfrom, Queens University
Veterans Affairs Canada officials
- Tabitha Stubbs, A/Director General, (VAC co-chair)
- Jeff Gallant, Manager, Community Engagement
- Amy MacDougald, Senior Analyst, Community Engagement
- Craig DesRoches, Initiatives Project Manager, Community Engagement
- Charlene Pascal, Communications Officer, Community Engagement
- Elizabeth Hughes, Project Officer, Community Engagement
- Noah Ellis, Project Operations Assistant, Community Engagement
- Sharlene Pilon, Strategic Advisor, Veteran Services and Branch Management
Department of National Defence official
- Captain Wade Brockway, Canadian Armed Forces
Observer
- Sonia Poirier, Office of the Veterans Ombud
Welcome and land acknowledgement
The VAC co-chair opened the meeting by welcoming the members and encouraging everyone to speak in their language of choice. The VAC co-chair proceeded with a land acknowledgement. Two new participants were welcomed and the group introduced themselves individually in a roundtable format.
The VAC co-chair reminded members to participate in turn to ensure smooth communication and equitable participation. Members were also encouraged to take pauses if needed.
Member co-chairs reviewed the agenda and explained the process for the breakout sessions. They encouraged members to focus on the identified topics in preparation for drafting a recommendation to be presented to the minister.
The advisory group members separated into two breakout groups to discuss the group’s top two priorities in more detail.
Breakout group 1: Improve ability to access health care and social care professionals
The member co-chair gave a brief overview of recommendation topics from the previous meeting. The group discussed prioritizing items—focusing on quick wins before larger aspirational goals.
Members emphasized provider education (e.g., counselors, psychologists) to improve care for Veterans, noting the unique needs of Veterans compared to the general public. They suggested a step-by-step approach to expanding the professional/community network.
The group settled on the following framework for recommendations.
Health and wellness access
- Partner with established organizations to prioritize access to doctors and psychiatrists.
- Eliminate the need for a General Practitioner referral and allow Veterans to self-refer, which could reduce the wait time for Veterans, improving their access to care and medical outcomes.
- Expand who can complete VAC forms and make referrals.
- Introduce clinical benchmarks rather than hard limits for treatment for VAC funded treatment.
- Propose that Veterans receive an annual wellness fund that they could use for self-directed wellness, such as naturopathy, equine therapy, and gym memberships.
Expand professional network support for Veterans.
- Evolving education process and peer support as a circle of care.
- Incentivize professionals to work with Veterans. VAC offering free and low-cost professional development and continuing education, similar to the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families offerings of no cost training and certifications in PTSD, anger management, etc. Including continuing education credits for professionals.
- Ensure/Follow step care support/approach - minimize bogging down health care professionals outside their scope and focus.
Housing
- Suggest that the Build Canada Homes funding allocation should mandate that a percentage be allocated for Veteran specific housing with wrap around supports, to create barrier free housing.
Breakout group 2: Enhance availability and understanding of specialized care required due to occupational exposures
The group discussed the topic of military occupational exposure to harmful materials during service. Members agreed that the nature of military exposure should not be compared to civilian exposure as conditions are different in terms of toxicity levels, length of time exposed and intensity of the substance.
The CAF places strong emphasis on protecting members’ physical and mental health, tracking potential hazard exposures and conducting ongoing research to understand related health risks. While preventing all exposures is not always possible, there was discussion about how best to link health conditions to service; whether through direct causation or strong association. Participants noted that Canadian evidence based research, along with findings from allied countries, could help support the establishing presumptive conditions, similar to the approach taken by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
Research done by allied countries related to exposures could also be leveraged by VAC to support presumptive conditions.
Members discussed that a list of operational exposure incidents from every stage of a CAF member’s career should be provided to VAC in order to assist in adjudication because gaps in medical awareness are a barrier to a Veteran’s overall health.
Breakout sessions debrief and discussion on next steps
Following the break-out session, members reconvened in plenary to share a summary of their discussions.
On the topic of improving access to health care professionals, members expressed support adding a Veteran identifier to health cards.
The VAC co-chair introduced the remaining priorities identified in previous meetings. Members discussed the priorities and the conversation naturally focused on three topics:
- Investigate the standard of care and make recommendations that enrich supports for families
- Explore the long-term needs of Veterans as they age
- Investigate barriers Veterans experience to receiving care in the home and maintaining independent living
The group discussed suggestions that VAC case managers could receive specialized training on how to support families that have lost their loved ones to war and for families of living Veterans with catastrophic injuries and severe mental health conditions. The group discussed that a dedicated unit for families and severely impacted Veterans would be beneficial to have within VAC. This unit could help families navigate mental and physical health challenges with their specialized knowledge.
Long-term care for Veterans is a provincial and territorial responsibility in most cases and could be improved upon as some health professionals are not equipped to optimally care for Veterans. Many health professionals lack the specialized care or expertise in caring for Veterans specifically, which is a concern for the future.
Some members suggested that VAC could consider re-establishing federal long-term care facilities dedicated to Veterans, potentially by partnering with and providing funding to an external organization to improve the care of aging Veterans.
The group agreed that the definition of who qualifies for VAC contract beds in long-term care facilities should be reassessed.
A member also raised the issue that costly specialized equipment and renovations can be required for critically injured Veterans. It was suggested that VAC should review the spending limits associated with home adaptation and other items required to support independent living.
Closing remarks
The VAC co-chair summarized the key points discussed and the themes that will form the basis of their main recommendations.
The member co-chairs encouraged everyone to reflect on the discussions today and to submit any further thoughts to the co-chairs via email.