Directory of Veterans Affairs staff made secret because of safety concerns

by **Wolfman** Sun 09 Dec 2018, 7:36 pm

Public online directory of Veterans Affairs staff made secret because of safety concerns, department says

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN

Published:
December 9, 2018

Directory of Veterans Affairs staff made secret because of safety concerns 1010_veterans-e1544384713200

'What happened to the Liberal government's policy of openness and transparency?' asked veteran advocate Sean Bruyea.

Almost all of the more than 3,000 employees of Veterans Affairs have removed their names from a public on-line directory, with the department claiming that front-line staff have to be protected from the veterans they are supposed to serve.

The issue surfaced in June when a Veterans Affairs Canada staff member questioned why of the 3,767 department contact names on the federal government electronic directory only 95 were visible to the public, according to Access to Information documents.

Veterans Affairs official Ricardo Angel, an information technology advisor with the department, responded that hiding the names and contract information was done on purpose as “we decided to err on the side of caution, as hundreds of case managers are not to be listed publicly.”

Crystal Garrett-Baird, the department’s director of privacy and information management, said the “real issue is the case managers and VSAs” referring to veterans service agents and those public servants who are supposed to help former military personnel get the care and benefits they require. “My understanding is that their work contact is not to be made publicly available unless they decide to share with a client,” she wrote in a June 16, 2018 email. “This ensures that calls are routed through (a central call network) and the safety of field staff is considered.”

But veteran advocate Sean Bruyea said the documents he obtained through the Access to Information law are further proof of how out of touch the department is with the people they are supposed to serve. “I think it’s part of a really dysfunctional culture at Veterans Affairs,” said Bruyea, an outspoken critic of VAC. “They view veterans are dangerous and angry and they want to hide from the very clients they claim to serve.”

“What happened to the Liberal government’s policy of openness and transparency?” he asked.

Bruyea said one of the main complaints he hears from veterans is the difficulty in contacting someone at the department to help them or having staff there return their calls. They are often not allowed to contact specific staff working on their files directly and instead have to go through a 1-800 phone number at a central call network and then wait for a response, he added.

But department spokeswoman Emily Gauthier said the issue of removing the names has nothing to do with safety but with improving service.

Gauthier noted that by routing calls through a toll free number veterans can speak to an analyst that will answer questions, provide information or redirect the call to the appropriate person. “This allows us to triage the calls and assign them correctly and in a timely fashion in order to ensure clients get the best service possible,” she added in the email. Outside business hours, veterans can access psychological support through the department assistance service, she said.

Any veteran can get a direct phone number for the individual assigned to their case, although the case worker has to agree to that.

“Calls from veterans looking to speak with their case managers will be transferred accordingly,” Gauthier noted. “If the case manager is not available, veteran will be invited to leave a message or to speak with another case manager who is available.”

https://theprovince.com/news/public-online-directory-of-veterans-affairs-staff-made-secret-because-of-safety-concerns-department-says/wcm/e0fda6ec-0a03-4e2d-a1f8-6a7dc4d69f09