This House of Commons Veterans Affairs committee meeting, part of a study on veteran suicide, heard from six witnesses: retired Corporal Christine Gauthier, mental resilience expert Kelsie Sheren, retired Chief Security Officer Shaun Fynes, retired Warrant Officer Kenneth Bennett, Brendan Hynes, and peer support advocate Diane Hill Rose.
Christine Gauthier described her ongoing struggles with Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), including a five-year wait for a platform lift that has still not been fully reimbursed, and being offered medical assistance in dying (MAID) by a case manager when she sought help. She said she has been targeted for speaking out, noting her spouse received a wheelchair in three months while she has waited five years, and urged the committee to see firsthand the failures of the system, which she said is fixable but has been undermined by outsourcing to subcontractors like Lifemark and Blue Cross.
Kelsie Sheren alleged that VAC continues to offer MAID to veterans, claiming to have written proof from 20 veterans and audio recordings from others, and that case managers have blown the whistle to her privately. She argued that Canada does not count veteran suicides, criticized the government for offering death instead of life-saving treatments like psychedelic-assisted therapy, and called for an end to over-prescription of pharmaceuticals and for funding to be redirected from foreign wars to veteran care.
Shaun Fynes testified about the suicide death of his son, Corporal Stuart Langridge, who was denied treatment for PTSD and placed on humiliating restrictions to "earn" further care, a decision he believes precipitated his son's death. He noted a paradigm shift in recognition of PTSD since then but said stigma remains, as veterans who die by suicide after service are not honoured on memorials, and he called for better medical care and an end to treating PTSD as a discipline issue.
Kenneth Bennett shared his own experience with suicidal ideation and the loss of many colleagues to suicide, emphasizing that the problem is human, not limited to any group, and that current fixes are for the masses rather than individuals. He recommended bringing back veterans hospitals and providing more in-person, follow-up support rather than phone lines, arguing that drugs like marijuana are not long-term solutions.
Brendan Hynes presented statistics showing long wait times for VAC settlements, a lack of veteran hospitals and brain scans for traumatic brain injury, and the burden of navigating multiple agencies for care. He described his own suicide plan and called for common sense, humanity, and a streamlined system under VAC, urging the government to apply accountability and to fund boots-on-the-ground support rather than administrators.
Diane Hill Rose, speaking for the United Federation of Canadian Veterans, highlighted the higher suicide risk for women veterans and the systemic failures that make them invisible, including military sexual trauma and a lack of gender-responsive care. She recommended implementing the "Invisible No More" report, making transition units mandatory, creating safe women-only recovery programs, and launching an independent review of sexual misconduct response, adding that her own claims have been denied for 14 years due to her advocacy.
The committee agreed to extend the meeting by 15 minutes to accommodate testimony. No procedural motions or votes were recorded.
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