Question Period Note: WOMEN VETERANS

• Our government is committed to ensuring that Women Veterans have access to programs and services that correspond with their unique needs.

• We support and are acting on the recommendations stemming from the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs’ 7th report on Fairness in the Services Offered to Francophone, Women and 2SLGBTQI+ Veterans.

• A key priority is to recognize the impacts of gender and sexual identity on the military and Veteran experience, and ensure that Veterans with different gender identities – including women – are not experiencing inequities in systems, policies, programs, services and commemorations.

BACKGROUND — WOMEN VETERANS

Women Veterans

According to the 2021 census, nearly one in six Veterans are women. Women Veterans represent the fastest growing segment of Veterans in Canada.

Women Veterans have distinct lived experiences in the military and have unique needs after service based on their gender. Women Veterans are more likely to have challenges across all areas of the seven domains of well being, including difficulty in the transition to civilian life, different reproductive and sexual health challenges and needs, barriers accessing services, and reluctance to identify as a Veteran.

Despite the increasing integration of women into the CAF in recent years, many women and sexual and gender minorities in the military face a culture hostile to those who are women, gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, as noted in the 2015 independent external review on sexual misconduct and sexual harassment in the CAF, as well as a recent report released in May 2022.

Recognizing that many challenges for Women Veterans remain, VAC has acknowledged and begun to address the issue of gaps in data and research challenges; formally adopting SAGER guidelines to ensure research in the Department systematically applies sex and gender considerations through all the phases of research; collaborating with McMaster University and It’s Not Just 20,000 (INJ20K) to assess the impact on both MST survivors and institutions when engaging in leadership-level conversations about Sexual Misconduct and Military Sexual Trauma; and working with Statistics Canada to address an important data gap on the social characteristics and socioeconomic outcomes of Canadian Veterans and their families through the development of a question on military service, as well as discussing data linkage opportunities with Statistics Canada with the goal of better understanding specific Veteran populations including women, 2SLGBTQI+, Indigenous, and other underrepresented groups.

WHEN PRESSED:
Q1 – What is VAC doing to better understand the challenges facing Women Veterans with regard to their physical health, mental health and safety concerns?

A - In July 2019, VAC created the Office of Women and LGBTQ2 Veterans to better support under-represented groups. The Office works collaboratively across the department and with Veterans, key stakeholders, subject matter experts and other government departments to help identify and address systemic issues specific to sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation of under-represented groups within the Veteran population. The Office also seeks to continue to strengthen the integration of Gender-Based Analysis Plus. As such, the Office of Women and LGBTQ2 Veterans is supporting departmental efforts to develop a disaggregated data action plan, as well as helping to shape the departmental Women Veterans Research Plan. Also in 2019, VAC held the first Women Veterans Forum to discuss specific challenges women face after service. Since then, VAC has continued to elevate the lived experiences of Women Veterans through the 2020 Women Veterans Forum Update and LGBTQ2+ Veteran Roundtable to strengthen the understanding of the unique challenges facing Women Veterans with regard to their physical health, mental health, and safety.

Q2 – Is VAC aware of the experiences of Women Veterans with regard to their transition to civilian life and the supports they might require?

A - VAC has been working towards implementing more inclusive transition services for women Veterans. We understand that, while many Veterans make a smooth transition from military to civilian life, many women Veterans may face more challenges as they are more likely to be single, lone parents, or providing care for others; all of which can contribute to difficult transitions. VAC is interested in strengthening the understanding of these challenges, and has completed longitudinal research with women members and Veterans to explore and identify sex and gender differences in military to civilian transition. VAC also continues to be an active collaborator with the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Department of National Defence to improve the social, health, and economic outcomes of women Veteran communities. For example, VAC and DND/CAF are exploring opportunities to align priorities and collaborate across departments on research to support military and Veteran women’s health and wellness.

Q3 – Is VAC aware of the experiences of Women Veterans who have experienced sexual trauma during service?

A – VAC is aware that women Veterans are more likely than other groups of Veterans to report experiencing sexual and non-sexual trauma, and continues to engage in ongoing and targeted outreach, engagement and research with women and LGBTQ2 Veteran stakeholder groups, and as an active part of the Department of National Defence’s Sexual Misconduct Response Centre’s External Advisory Council (EAC); GBA Plus Interdepartmental Committee; Ongoing collaboration with the University of Manitoba to investigate the prevalence of Military Sexual Trauma in male and female service members and Veterans; the Canadian Military Sexual Trauma Community of Practice; while supporting the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence to understand and address the experiences of women Veterans.
VAC has also made strides in supporting consistent, equitable, and transparent disability decisions that consider the unique experiences of women Veterans, by developing and implementing a new Sexual Dysfunction Entitlement Eligibility Guideline (EEG) to support decision making for males, females, people who identify as sex/gender diverse, and those who have experienced sexual trauma related to service and, developed plans to modernize the Table of Disabilities, revise existing EEGs, and develop several additional EEGs. This work includes applying a GBA Plus lens to ensure that these tools provide for evidence-based decisions with consideration to the diverse health-related experience of CAF members and Veterans.

Q4 – Is VAC aware of the unique needs of Women Veterans facing homelessness or housing instability?

VAC continues to collaborate with Infrastructure Canada on the development of a Veteran Homelessness Program as announced in Budget 2022 that will, in partnership with community organizations, provide services and rent supplements to Veterans experiencing homelessness. This work builds on the Budget 2021 announcement of $45 million over two years for the development of a Veteran homelessness pilot program. VAC recognized the unique needs and barriers facing homeless and housing insecure women Veterans and funded initiatives through the Veteran and Family Well-being Fund to conduct research and implement projects that support the well-being of Veterans who are, or are at risk of becoming, homeless including funding projects that focus on the unique needs of Veterans that are women, Indigenous, or LGBTQI+ and their families. VAC continues to expand its understanding of the unique needs of women Veterans and has overseen a scoping literature review on female Veterans who are at risk homelessness.

Q5 – What is VAC doing to improve the programs and supports for women Veterans?

VAC continues to integrate the work of Gender Based Analysis Plus into the work of the department and promote inclusion for all Veterans by recognizing the different impacts of policies, programs and services based on gender identity and expression, biological sex and/or sexual orientation, as well as intersecting identity factors, such as age, disability, indigeneity, race/ethnicity, religion, and language. VAC has strengthened training on Gender Based Analysis plus, and works to ensure that Women Veterans have access to programs and services that correspond with their unique needs.
Veterans Affairs Canada published a Strategic Direction document, Timely disability benefits decisions: Strategic direction for improving wait times, in June 2020. This document outlined the measures we would take to improve our services to Veterans and their families by changing the way we work to make faster disability benefits decisions. The Strategic Direction document is being updated for release in late 2022. It will outline progress over the past two years and our priorities for the next two years. A Gender Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) mindset will be applied to initiatives to ensure all disability benefits applications are treated and processed equitably.
We hired a dedicated manager who is responsible for workload management and will monitor the completion times for disability benefits applications from female Veterans.
In September 2021, the Department added a team dedicated to processing disability benefits claims from female applicants/Veterans. This team is working to ensure we can systematically address the current barriers and close the gap in processing times for female and male applicants.
In February 2022, the Government announced funding of $139.6 million over two years to extend the temporary positions as part of the action to reduce processing times for disability benefit applications at Veterans Affairs Canada.
These measures have helped the Department make significant progress in improving the processing times for female Veterans.
In 2021-2022, 16.4% of our completed disability benefits applications belong to female Veterans/members. This is almost equal to the percentage of applications received from female applicants (16.7%).
For the first half of 2022-2023 (April 1 to September 30), the average turnaround times for disability benefits first applications were 28.4 weeks for female and 28.7 weeks for male. In the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the average turnaround times were 40.2 weeks for female and 39.6 weeks for male.

VAC has also continued efforts to make inclusive disability benefits decisions by developing and implementing a new Sexual Dysfunction Entitlement Eligibility Guideline (EEG) to support decision making for males, females, people who identify as sex/gender diverse, and those who have experienced sexual trauma related to service; and, is implementing plans to modernize the Table of Disabilities, revise existing EEGs, and develop several additional EEGs. This work includes applying a GBA Plus lens to ensure that these tools provide for evidence-based decisions with consideration to the diverse health-related experience of CAF members and Veterans.