Veterans Affairs Committee on Sept. 23rd, 2025

[Nishika Jardine]

Yes. Thank you.

The Merlo Davidson class action lawsuit was about the RCMP women who filed a class action lawsuit about sexual misconduct on the job. The settlement provided six levels of compensation. The law says that Veterans Affairs cannot compensate you twice for the same condition. These women put in their disability pension applications and indicated very honestly whether they had received settlement from the Merlo Davidson class action. The department was obligated to reduce their disability pensions by the amount of their settlement.

We heard these complaints. They were brought to us by the RCMP Women Veterans Council.

We did a deep dive into the entire settlement, including the construct of the settlement and for what it was meant to compensate. We found that the first two levels were absolutely not meant to compensate for chronic conditions. The disability pension provides compensation to veterans for chronic conditions, so there was a clear conflict there. On the remaining levels, the department had never provided any rationale for what degree of offset they would take.

I wrote a letter to the minister outlining all of this. My understanding is that every veteran RCMP woman and former RCMP officer was contacted by the department and that whatever needed to be done to resolve that unfairness was done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

Before we let you go, I would like to invite Mr. Tolmie to say a few words.

[Fraser Tolmie, Conservative, Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'll make a confession to you. I think it's the loneliest time in my life when I drop off my kids and I'm leaving to come to Ottawa. I feel that because I've learned through my children that they spell “love” as “T-I-M-E”.

Through your testimony today, you shared your separation and being away from your son. We acknowledge your service. I want you to know that this committee truly does mean it, because we understand what you have endured and what you have done for not only our country but also your son.

I want to say thank you on behalf of the committee. We appreciate it.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

I'm sure we'll see each other again, so see you next time.

Committee members, I'd like to remind you that the deadline for submitting your witness lists for the study on suicide prevention among veterans is Friday, September 26, at 4 p.m. You can email your lists to the clerk.

I'd also like to note something else.

We are working towards our study on experience of our Black veterans, so you will receive notification of that.

Just to confirm, our minister has accepted our invitation and will be here on October 21.

With that, is it the will of the committee to adjourn the meeting?

Mr. Richards, I see your hand up.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

Just before we do, I want to put this publicly. I've expressed this to Mr. Casey, but I've also expressed it to the minister personally.

I will express it here that we are disappointed, obviously, that she has not agreed to come prior to the break week in October, as we had asked, and that she's only offering to come for one hour rather than two, as the committee had asked.

That is extremely disappointing, especially for a new minister. There are lots of questions.

I wanted to put that on the record. I think it's important that we do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Mr. Richards.

Is it the will of the committee to adjourn the meeting?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

The meeting is adjourned.