Juno News - Conservative MP slams Veterans Affairs minister over assisted suicide reports

Join us as we hear from the Minister of Veterans Affairs as he answers questions from the committee regarding the case of Christine Gauthier, who claims she was offered a medical assistance in dying contract by Veterans Affairs Canada in order to be able to get a lift to her home. She has been in a wheelchair for five years and has been fighting for years for a lift in her wheelchair because of injuries she suffered serving this country. She says that Veterans Affairs will not help her to live her life, but they have offered to help her die.

00:00:00.000 Minister I want to get to some of the details of the of the contract in a moment but first you know

00:00:07.980 last time you were before this committee you were discussing medical assistance in dying

00:00:13.340 and you indicated to us that there were four four veterans who had had this issue raised with them

00:00:20.220 by one particular caseworker and that had been referred to the RCMP. Since that time I know I'm

00:00:27.300 certainly now aware of at least eight veterans who have had this occur and and there has been at

00:00:36.120 least three additional case managers or or service agents involved in this so we're at a situation

00:00:44.760 where we've got eight veterans and probably as many as four case workers and that includes Bruce who I

00:00:55.680 mentioned to you last time as well as the one that obviously was raised in last Thursday's meeting

00:01:01.620 and has been in the media quite extensively since and that's the case of Christine Gauthier who's in

00:01:06.720 a wheelchair because of injuries she suffered serving this country and has been fighting with

00:01:11.640 Veterans Affairs for five years to try to get a lift put in her house and as she said she's told

00:01:19.920 this has been fought by Veterans Affairs every step of the way she she puts it well she said Veterans

00:01:26.340 Affairs will won't help her to live her life but they have offered to help her die that is a statement

00:01:36.780 that just hits hits everyone I think that hears it and it's it's something we should all be concerned

00:01:42.060 about now she wrote to you about that back in July of 2021 and at that point in time you were aware of

00:01:51.880 this and did nothing until August of 2022 when another veterans case hit the media can you tell us

00:02:00.000 Minister why did you do nothing from July of 2021 onwards and put other veterans lives at risk

00:02:06.000 thank you very much and I first of all Christine and anybody else that's out there that has any

00:02:13.920 difficulty with this or has been involved in this issue we want them to come forward with Christine we

00:02:20.380 want to work with her to make sure we help and provide any service that we can and I in order to help

00:02:26.540 her but I would tell you that we have reviewed our files and what I indicated last week two weeks ago I

00:02:34.380 believe here before the committee I indicated quite clearly that there was there was four cases involving

00:02:41.640 one case manager totally unacceptable totally unacceptable Veterans Affairs does not provide

00:02:48.180 maid services at all but what I can tell you is we have found nobody else that has indicated to

00:02:56.460 we find no information minister to end I just like let me answer the question you ask the question well sure

00:03:03.300 but let me let me interrupt because you're telling me that you still believe that there's only four

00:03:08.200 when we've had Christine Gauthier come forward we've had Bruce come forward and I'm aware of at least a

00:03:12.800 couple of others now I granted they haven't come forward but what we know that a couple of them have

00:03:17.580 administered beyond that in July of 2021 you say you want them to come forward Christine Gauthier

00:03:24.120 came to you in July of 2021 she did come forward and you did nothing do you not see that as a problem

00:03:31.920 I made it quite clearly that in your statement I believe that Christine Gauthier was offered this

00:03:38.800 service I I have to be very careful what I indicated about specific files excuse me but I believe that

00:03:47.700 I would have to ask my deputy to respond I just want to be careful I do not want to affect the

00:03:53.100 investigation what we want to find out it's exactly what happened when it happened and who was involved

00:03:58.620 but I would ask my deputy to respond to that and just before before before that you do that the

00:04:04.000 minister I can appreciate that you you don't want to you know do anything that would cause a harm to

00:04:10.020 the investigation however can you tell us has have you done anything I mean you only you were aware of

00:04:14.940 this case back in July of 2021 clearly didn't pay attention to it but now at least that it's come to

00:04:20.300 light in the media and in this committee since last Thursday have you investigated what happened or done

00:04:25.220 anything to try to investigate what happened in that period of time thank you very much as I indicated

00:04:29.600 previously said the meeting upon hearing this I asked my deputy to conduct an investigation there

00:04:34.940 in doing that I indicated to my I was briefed a couple of weeks ago and I asked my deputy to expand

00:04:41.140 the investigation he has done that it has been referred to the RCMP that has been done what we want

00:04:48.060 to do is make fully sure that anybody that has any difficulty in this way but I think in all fairness

00:04:54.220 we have to let the deputy respond to the to the what you indicated to the committee sure that's what I have

00:05:00.360 done go ahead sure enough just before you do that um yeah no no no minister sure I will uh you know and but

00:05:07.960 you're you're the one responsible and you were this was brought to your attention in July of 2021 and you did

00:05:14.740 nothing for over a year now you're telling us well there's an investigation great that's wonderful and we're glad to see that's

00:05:20.140 happening but you're you keep telling us there's four we know there is more than four and without a doubt

00:05:28.280 you know I'm aware that the the previous case that came in the media that the the agent was involved was

00:05:34.820 is in British Columbia Christine Gauthier is located in Quebec she had indicated to on I heard of her on a podcast

00:05:41.280 this weekend where she indicated she had two separate caseworkers that that both suggested made to her one was male and one was female

00:05:49.280 female so there is more than one caseworker involved here there clearly is so I wonder what you've done

00:05:55.540 to investigate it and can you maybe tell us if whoever's going to answer it uh how many total times

00:06:01.820 has your investigation uncovered that made excuse me excuse me Mr. Richards I'm sorry

00:06:09.460 just to kind of wrap up our previous discussion I mean I think it's fairly clear to see why veterans

00:06:21.160 fail to have trust in and confidence in you and your department when you despite hearing you know that

00:06:31.500 the case of the veteran known as Bruce coming forward and indicating that he was offered medical assistance in

00:06:38.480 dying despite hearing that Christine Gauthier came to this committee and indicated that and indicated

00:06:44.180 that there was two separate agents that offered her medical assistance in dying when she was seeking

00:06:50.320 for help in getting a lift put into her house and then you wonder why veterans don't feel comfortable

00:06:58.520 coming forward when you sit here and tell us we still think there's only four cases despite the fact

00:07:03.160 that you've got veterans who have come forward and in one case came to you as early as 2021 well before

00:07:09.960 this ever made the media and you sit here and continue to tell us oh there's only four and there's

00:07:14.520 only one agent when veterans have clearly indicated that that's not in fact accurate so I really hope

00:07:20.520 Minister that you're going to go away from this meeting and think really long and hard about how you've

00:07:24.840 failed our veterans in this regard and how you're going to have to do better because you've put potentially

00:07:30.200 veterans lives at risk.

00:07:33.160 Thank you.

Juno News - December 05, 2022

Conservative MP slams Veterans Affairs minister over assisted suicide reports

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