Canada names new veterans watchdog

New veterans watchdog says she has ‘solid mandate,’ working ‘flat out’ in first weeks on the job

By SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN . DECEMBER 24, 2020

Canada's new veterans ombudsperson wants to look at gaps in disability benefit claims for veterans, progress for women and Indigenous veterans, and 'wants to get the word out' about what the office actually does, but veterans groups and the former ombudsman have said the office’s mandate is too narrow and needs an independent review.

Canada’s new veterans watchdog Nishika Jardine says her office has a “solid” mandate and will not be “hampered in any way” by the reporting structure to a cabinet minister rather than Parliament, as her predecessor has suggested.

The former Army officer officially started the five-year appointment on Nov. 23, less than two weeks after the Remembrance Day announcement of her posting by Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay (Cardigan, P.E.I.), who she reports to.

That dynamic was highlighted by the former veterans ombudsman, Craig Dalton, who quit abruptly in May after only a-year-and-a-half on the job. He called for an independent review of the ombudsman’s mandate, suggesting it was too narrow and that there might be more trust if the position was an officer of Parliament, similar the auditor general and the parliamentary budget officer.

“I’m not sure I draw a parallel between those things,” Ms. Jardine said in an interview on Dec. 17, pointing to the office’s 13-year history of making a “clear difference” to veterans and their families, both when addressing complaints about programs and services from Veterans Affairs and investigating systemic issues. “I think that our work is not hampered in any way at the moment and I don’t see an issue.”

In interviews during his tenure, Mr. Dalton suggested the office had lost the trust of veterans and their families, who have also raised concerns that the office’s mandate is too narrow, which looks at complaint-driven cases of treatment by and decisions of Veterans Affairs Canada.

“I am concerned with what has been reflected to me around lack of trust in our office, questioning what value we offer to veterans, noting that we’re not independent enough to generate confidence in veterans,” Mr. Dalton told CBC News on June 13. “That’s something that is important and we need to look at it.”

Ms. Jardine, who spent 37 years in the military, said she hadn’t heard that criticism, and throughout all her briefings since taking the job and during personal research, she didn’t feel there was a lack of trust in the office. Similarly, she said she’s not concerned by the fact Mr. Dalton left after 18 months on the job.

“I’ve heard just the opposite, to be quite honest,” she said, mostly hearing from those grateful for the work the office has done. Ms. Jardine considers the job a privilege and says it’s “such important work” to advocate for fairness, and, more personally, yet another career step in a lifetime commitment to her serving her country—one that includes a year of deployment in Afghanistan.

After three weeks working “flat out,”she said it’s clear the office has plenty of work on its plate and has a “solid mandate” serving veterans and families who don’t feel they’re getting fair treatment, and taking deeper dives into issues where necessary.

“I sort of liken it to being dropped off beside a train that’s like going at 100 miles an hour. And being told, ‘Okay, you got to catch up to the train, run like crazy and get on board,’ ” said Ms. Jardine, who now oversees an office of 32 staff and $5.5-million in planned spending, according to the annual report for 2019-2020. Her first weeks included a briefing with about 25 veterans and advocacy groups. She has yet to speak with Mr. MacAulay beyond the congratulations on her appointment, but said that’s in the schedule for the new year.

“I’m running to catch up,” she said.

Important to ‘get the word out’ to veterans
While it’s too early for her to outline any priorities for the office, she said she’s personally interested in focusing on looking at gaps in service, as well as progress, for both women and Indigenous veterans. She’d also like to ”to get the word out” to military members earlier in their careers about what’s available to them from the office and about the position that’s been around for just over a decade.

In 2007, then Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper created the office, appointing retired colonel Pat Stogran, who served for three years and later launched a failed attempt to join the NDP leadership race. Retired chief warrant officer Guy Parent served as ombudsman for eight years, between 2010 and 2018, and then in November 2018 the Liberals named Mr. Dalton, who once served in Afghanistan. Ms. Jardine is the first woman to hold the position.

Before she retired from the military in May 2019, Ms. Jardine said she had “no clue” Canada had a veterans ombudsman, learning about it first from friends who sat on the advisory council. The office will start publishing a summary of the cases it sees in order to help people better understand its role, she added, and how it will “shine a light on unfairness and how we’ve been able to make differences in people’s lives.”

In mid-January Ms. Jardine said the office is publishing a report about mental health issues and the families of veterans, and in March it has plans to relaunch, virtually, a forum for female veterans, which was sidelined by COVID-19 pandemic. First up, however, she wants to embark on a strategic planning session to hear firsthand from veterans and groups about the issues that confront them today.

The office continues to receive a “high volume” of complaints from veterans about their health support and the wait-times getting a decision on disability benefit applications, according to the office’s annual report. It created a dedicated intake team to address how the office responds to complaints and reported that its timing had improved, responding to 89 per cent of inquiries within 60 days. In 2019-20, the office handled nearly 2,000 requests for information or complaints, ultimately opening 943 cases for investigations. Of these cases, 605—or 64 per cent—were assessed as unfairly treated by Veterans Affairs Canada.

It’s from these calls that the office can pick up trends that sometimes become systemic investigations, like its 2018 backlog report where Mr. Parent highlighted the delay as “well in excess” of the department’s 16-week service standard, leaving disabled veterans in the lurch.

Benefits backlog years from clearing: House report
Two years later, the problem is again a subject of study, this time in a Dec. 11 House Veterans Affairs Committee “Clearing the Jam” report, which called on the government to add resources to address the backlog of disability benefit claims for veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

And, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux, the 16-week service standard was only met for 37 per cent of the applications received in 2018–2019. Of the 49,216 applications still pending as of March 2020, 22,138 were in the backlog. For years Veterans Affairs Canada has missed many of its internal targets for good service, adding to the backlog concerns.

Mr. MacAulay told MPs the case backlog is “unacceptable” and the Liberal government has put in a system to address it, predicting it will be “under control” by 2022 given $192-million in funding over two years to hire 300 new full-time employees.

The House committee, however, recommended hiring or assigning another 460 temporary employees to work beyond the original deadline of March 31, 2022. Citing Mr. Giroux’s projections, which would reduce the backlog to 12,000 in the early months of 2023, the department assured the committee it’s confident it can reduce the backlog to less than 5,000 through other measures.

Ms. Jardine welcomed the parliamentary report, adding that she’s glad to see MPs “have put their voice behind this problem” and looks forward to seeing the government’s response to the report. Asked about the backlog and whether 2022 is an acceptable time frame, she said that’s a better question for Veterans Affairs Canada.

“Individual cases are complicated, they’re complex, and our role is to ensure that the legislation is applied fairly. So that’s where our focus remains,” she said.

Office of the Veterans Ombudsman
The mandate of the ombudsman, found in the Order in Council P.C. 2007-530, shall be:

.to review and address complaints by clients [of Veterans Affairs Canada] and their representatives arising from the application of the provisions of the Veterans Bill of Rights;

.to identify and review emerging and systemic issues related to programs and services provided or administered by the department or by third parties on the department’s behalf that impact negatively on clients;

.to review and address complaints by clients [of Veterans Affairs Canada] and their representatives related to programs and services provided or administered by the department or by third parties on the department’s behalf, including individual decisions related to the programs and services for which there is no right of appeal to the (Veterans Review and Appeal) Board;

.to review systemic issues related to the (Veterans Review and Appeal) Board; and
to facilitate access by stakeholders to programs and services by providing them with information and referrals.—Source: Office of the Veterans Ombudsman

swallen@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

https://www.hilltimes.com/2020/12/24/veterans-watchdog-say-she-has-solid-mandate-working-flat-out-in-first-weeks-on-the-job/276799

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