Record of Discussion - 30 April 2024

30 April 2024
15:00 – 16:30 ET
Virtual – Microsoft Teams

Advisory Group Members (Families and Policy)

  • Sergeant (Retired) Catherine Bergeron
  • Lieutenant Commander (Retired) Lori Buchart
  • Major (Retired) Mark Campbell
  • Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Steven Deschamps
  • Brian Forbes, National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada (Policy Advisory Group Co-chair)
  • Lieutenant Commander (Retired) Charls Gendron, Royal Canadian Legion
  • Tim Goddard
  • Sergeant (Retired) Kim Hendricken, RCMP Veterans Association
  • Lieutenant (Retired) Carolyn Hughes, Royal Canadian Legion
  • Namita Joshi, True Patriot Love Foundation
  • Laryssa Lamrock
  • Captain (Retired) Dennis Leblanc (Policy Advisory Group Co-chair)
  • Master Warrant Officer (Retired) William MacDonald
  • Laurie Ogilvie, Military Family Services, Canadian Armed Forces
  • Yvonne Watson
  • Sailor 1st class (Retired) Scott White

Regrets

  • Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Robert Bell
  • Commodore Dan Bouchard, Canadian Armed Forces
  • Tamara Kleinschmidt, Trenton Military Family Resource Centre
  • Superintendent (Retired) Dave LeBlanc, RCMP Veterans Association
  • Nora Spinks
  • Master Corporal (Retired) Keith McAllister, Veterans UN-NATO Canada
  • Jenny Migneault
  • Colonel (Retired) Telah Morrison (Advisory Group on Families Co-chair)
  • Brigadier General (Retired) Joe Sharpe

Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs

Veterans Affairs Canada Officials

Observer

  • Duane Schippers, Office of the Veterans Ombud

Opening Remarks

The Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) Co-chairs welcomed the two advisory groups and Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Steven Deschamps provided a land acknowledgement.

Record of Discussion

The two advisory groups reviewed the proposed record of discussion from the 15 February 2024 meeting. The record of discussion was approved, without objection.

Remarks on the National Stakeholder Summit and Women Veterans Forum

  • Pamela Harrison provided a summary of events from the 2024 Veterans Affairs Canada National Stakeholder Summit and the 2024 Women Veterans Forum. She shared that 171 people attended the summit in Montreal and 99 attended the forum in-person; while many more joined the events virtually.
  • Pamela Harrison shared the feedback poll results from both events, stating a broadly positive response from the attendees. However, all were in agreement that the two events should be separated, in order to make the experience more manageable for participants.
  • The advisory group members shared their support and appreciation for the Stakeholder Summit and Women Veteran’s Forum. Members were appreciative of the inclusion of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) components to the events.
  • Although each advisory group spoke during breakout sessions at the 2024 Stakeholder Summit about the work they were focused on, for future Summits, an opportunity for all attendees to hear each  Advisory Groups to brief on their work and receive input from the meeting participants.
  • The Advisory groups would like to also hear from Veterans Affairs on its response to the work of the Advisory Groups in addressing gaps  in Veterans’ benefits  programs.
  • Further, members shared their appreciation for the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defense’s continued participation throughout the four days. Members shared that they found her engagement to be a meaningful contribution.

Priority One: Veterans Independence Program

  • Mitch Freeman shared a list which summarized previous discussions and produced draft policy recommendations, related to how VAC could improve the Veterans Independence Program (VIP) with a focus on families.
  • These changes focused on a theme of expanding program access to Veteran family members, including providing them access to the program in their own right, independent of the Veteran.
  • The group discussed ways to make the VIP program more accessible and inclusive, such as conducting Gender-Based Analysis+ (GBA+), reformulating the benefit matrix to consider consumer price inflation and regional cost-of-living differences.

Priority Two: Educational and Training Benefit

  • Mitch Freeman shared a list which summarized previous discussions and produced draft policy recommendations, related to how VAC could improve the Educational and Training Benefit (ETB). These included expanding the period of eligibility and extending eligibility to dependent children and spouses.
  • The group then discussed how to remove ETB eligibility barriers for component transfers to the Reserve Forces, and what an appropriate eligibility structure should be.

Concluding Remarks

A member brought up the recommendations submitted by the Policy Advisory Group to the Minister in August 2023, and their continued value although beyond the specific mandate items assigned by the Minister on the agenda. These recommendations include the independent right of family members to access treatment benefits and wellness programs together with proposals to provide financial assistance to families where the spouse of the disabled veteran is a primary caregiver and is compelled to give up their employment with the consequential loss of family income.

The VAC Co-chairs thanked the advisory group members for participating in the meeting. They agreed to prepare draft proposals of the recommendations to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defense. The two advisory groups committed to reconvene in late May or early June to finalize their recommendations.

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