QUESTION PERIOD — Veterans Affairs
Business of the Subcommittee
June 1, 2022
Honourable senators, as you know, on Wednesdays, the Canadian Senators Group directs our question to committee chairs. It’s great to see another group doing that.
As we approach the seventy-eighth anniversary of D-Day with our minds on the many veterans who have supported Canadians through peace and conflict, my question today is for my honourable colleague Senator Richards in his role as Chair of the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs.
Senator Richards, yesterday the Auditor General of Canada released Report 2 — Processing Disability Benefits for Veterans. The audit found that despite Veterans Affairs Canada initiatives to speed up processing times, veterans from the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP are waiting far too long to receive compensation for injuries sustained in their service to Canada.
More specifically, the audit found that veterans applying for disability benefits for the first time waited almost 10 months for a decision, compared to their service standard of 4 months.
Honourable colleague, I believe you and all my colleagues here in this chamber would agree that this is absolutely unacceptable.
Senator Richards, as Chair of the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, can you please share what your committee has been working on, what you have been hearing from witnesses and veterans across the country, and how your committee can help the government to better reach these vulnerable veterans in an expeditious manner?
Before calling upon Senator Richards, I should point out to honourable colleagues that pursuant to rule 4-8(1), questions can be asked of chairs of committees but not of chairs of subcommittees. There have been a number of rulings in the past with respect to that. Since the question has been asked, I’ll leave it to Senator Richards whether or not he wants to answer it for now, but I would ask colleagues to bear that in mind in the future.
I’ll answer very quickly. I’m glad for the Auditor General’s report. We have been saying the same thing since I went into Veterans Affairs five years ago. The problems of wait times can kill a veteran in one way or another. The problems of homelessness and the dependence on drugs are also real.
I think there should be programs in every province to alleviate wait times. Also, I think there should be occupational training and psychiatric availability long before they leave the service. Our Canadian public should be aware of this. If we do not think our men and women in uniform are important, try doing without them.
Senator, you mentioned our veterans in the First and Second World Wars. I, as a young boy, used to see the First World War veterans drinking themselves to death on the banks of my river. They had no one except us kids of eight and nine who were their friends. We used to pick up their hats, get them to their feet and try to take them home.
I wrote a poem about that a long time ago called For Such Men Who Fought in Battles when I described how our country had neglected them. I hope we don’t fall into the same morass.
I think the Auditor General’s report on the disinterest of our government is not disheartening if our government finally takes it to heart. I’ll leave it at that, senator.
Senator Black, since we have started, we’ll go along with a supplementary question.
I apologize for not knowing that rule.
That’s fine, Senator Black. No need to apologize.
