Thursday, January 19, 2023
13:00 - 14:30 (ET)
Care and support advisory group members
- Major (Retired) Bruce Henwood, National Council of Veteran Associations (Member Co-chair)
- Major (Retired) Jorma Hamalainen, NATO Vets
- Captain (Retired) Rod Holowaty, Zone Commander Legion District 3 Zone 1
- Marie Andrée Malette, Canadian Caregivers Brigade
- Sergeant (Retired) Andrea Newton
- Second Lieutenant (Retired) Walter Callaghan, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto
- Lieutenant (Retired) Sylvain Bouliane, VeteransCanada.ca
- Major (Retired) Linda Lander
- Alexa Pasha, Royal Canadian Legion
- Reverend Ken MacLaren
Regrets
- Mary Boutette, The Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre (Member Co-chair)
- Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class (Retired) Debbie Eisan, Aboriginal Veterans Autochtones
Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs
- Erika Lashbrook Knutson, Press Secretary, Minister’s Office
Veterans Affairs Canada officials
- Jane Hicks, A/Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management (Co-chair)
- Toby Hill, Project Officer, Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach
Observer
- Kandace Bogaert, Office of the Veterans Ombudsperson
Care and support advisory group meeting
Welcome/Opening remarks/Administrative updates
The member Co-chair opened the meeting, extending a welcome to all members. He indicated that going forward, the Co-chairs would take turns hosting the meetings, which will be held on the third Thursday of each month, with a break for July and August.
Land acknowledgement
The representative from the Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs welcomed the members and offered a land acknowledgement recognizing of the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People, and that virtual participants are also on sacred land.
Administrative updates
A hybrid meeting is being planned for April in Ottawa for those who are able to travel; those who cannot will have the option to join via MS Teams. This will be discussed in more detail at the next meeting.
There will be a forward agenda prepared for future meetings, with the hybrid meeting and life course trajectory to be discussed in February.
Priority of effort
Some of the areas mentioned included aging-related issues, continuity of care, gaps in the nature and scope of benefits and services, barriers to care and support, meeting the needs of middle-aged Veterans, and long-term care.
- Feedback was provided from members concerning which areas the group should focus its efforts on and a suggestion was made to set up a poll so that priorities could be clearly identified.
Overview and update on 2020 recommendations by theme status
The member Co-chair highlighted several points where earlier CASAG groups had made recommendations and asked all group members to review the documents to get brought up to speed.
- The VAC Co-chair indicated that she can provide updates on many of the items in future meetings, as there have been changes over the years since the documents were prepared.
- A question was raised about the status of the Career Transition Services (CTS) program. The VAC Co-chair reported that a new contract was awarded to Agilec to provide career transitioning support services. The new contract took effect this week and so far, the systems are up and running well to date.
- The VAC Co-chair suggested that the package of available supports could be shared as part of the forward agenda in order to ensure that members are fully aware of the suite of benefits and services currently offered by the Department and the group was in agreement. This would include services such as CTS, the educational benefit, rehab program, etc.
Rehabilitation services and vocational assistance project (RSVP) update
The VAC Co-chair provided an update on the Rehabilitation Services and Vocational Assistance Project (RSVP) which has now transitioned through the Phase A migration, meaning that everyone who was in receipt of vocational rehabilitation services previously is now with PCVRS. Many have signed up for the participant portal and are engaging with the providers through it. Phase B will involve the transition of approximately 11,000 clients and this is set to take place from February through June of this year.
- A member asked about the feedback channels, and the VAC Co-Chair responded that issues can be raised through the portal, which has an escalation process, or they can speak to their RSS or Case Manager. The Case Manager is the official Departmental contact. If there are systemic issues, the VAC Co-chair will follow up with the team. VAC meets with PCVRS on a regular basis and there is also the third round of consultations taking place in early February.
Roundtable
The floor was opened up to all members to provide feedback, ask questions, and give updates. Topics raised included:
- How to improve communication with groups like reservists who don’t know what benefits and services they may be eligible for. There were questions about what venues exist outside of the Department’s website to disseminate information. The VAC Co-chair indicated that there is work ongoing with the CAF on reservists and that information is always available through the website, My VAC Account, the NCCN, scheduling appointments through the area offices, and connecting with advocacy groups outside the Department such as the Royal Canadian Legion.
- One member mentioned the Tiny House Project and wondered if something like that could be looked at for homeless Veterans.
- A member asked if there was a clear distinction between Case Managers and Veterans Service Agents. The VAC Co-chair said that Case Managers are typically social workers or nurses and provide higher level support, which VSAs provide targeted support. She suggested that case management and guided level support could be a forward agenda item to discuss in more detail.
- There was some discussion about homeless Veterans and how the RCL and VAC obtain their stats on homelessness. A member who is involved with the RCL responded that each Command keeps stats on Veterans who are in touch with them and that the stats are generally based on point in time surveys conducted by various municipalities, which means that the numbers can fluctuate. The RCL has a new initiative on homelessness and will be going to shelters and police stations to advertise the program.
- Members expressed support for the idea of polling the group to establish clear priorities. There was a suggestion of naming Champions for individual priorities going forward.
Closing remarks/Next steps
The member Co-chair will prepare a list of items for consideration as priorities and share it with the VAC Co-chair and the representative from the Minister’s office and once it is agreed upon, it will be sent to the group to vote on the issues to prioritize. Once the priorities are clearly identified, the group can focus and get down to work.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 16 from 13:00 – 14:30 ET. Members are asked to let SEO know if they will attend meetings or not.
Meeting adjourned at 14:32 ET.