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Feature:
VAC Stakeholder Summit 9-10 May- VVi
Chief Editor Speech
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PERIODICAL
- May-2- 2016
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Issue No: 201668 |
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Veteran
Voice.info
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VAC
Stakeholder Summit 9-10 May VVi Chief Editor Intro Speech
Perry Grey Chief Editor
VeteranVoice.info (VVi)
VVi 11 May 2016 db
This is the
speech that I (Perry Grey) was allowed to make during the
Stakeholder Summit 9-10 May. It was fueled by 14 years of
frustration trying to collaborate with VAC. It was also inspired by
a lot of people including Sean Bruyea, Jenny Migneault , Louise
Richard, Romeo Dallaire, the staff of Veteran Voice, and the members
and supporters of the Veterans Community.
Once again you
have gathered us under false pretenses. You call this a stakeholders
summit, and yet you really do not want us to participate in the
event. Our input is limited to a few minutes during the break-out
sessions and the observers among us are not allowed to speak at all.
How is this truly a part of the consultation process? Rather it is a
very bad example of Canadian democracy. Are we not entitled to the
same respect as your colleagues in Parliament, who are allowed to
speak in committees and in the respective houses?
You were
mandated to have constructive dialogue with Canadians, civil
society, and stakeholders.
A stakeholders
summit should be about the stakeholders priorities and not VAC
priorities.
You want to be treated with respect as an
honourable minister. Such respect must be earned first. Veterans
know that they may salute the rank of their superiors, but they
expect those same superiors to earn the respect of their
subordinates. It is known as leadership by example.
Start treating
us with respect, and we may reciprocate. Instead this event is a
form of intimidation with a smile and you are marginalising the
clients who you supposedly serve.
There is much
fluff, no substance and certainly no accountability regarding ideas
put forward from the last meeting. This is not the agenda of a
stakeholder summit that seeks to address the most pressing concerns
of injured veterans and their families. Does that mean that all the
breakout group efforts that were worked upon in the last summit are
thrown into file 13? This is clearly about stakeholder control and
distraction. For those who don't really care about addressing the
issues affecting the most important stakeholder, i.e., injured
veterans and their families, this summit is a perfect sit back and
feel good, feel nice, like you're part of something that looks
important but means nothing.
Are these
summits along with the six announced policy groups about meaningful
stakeholder consultation that produces needed and timely change or
merely public relations exercises to ensure media and stakeholder
control?
We do not know what is meant by the word
stakeholder and few have been contacted by your Stakeholder
Engagement and Outreach team to explain why we were selected and
what to expect from these summits. Frankly this is typical of the
poor communication skills exhibited by your subordinates.
According to your staff, there is no
definition of stakeholder, but this is not true:
“Departmental
stakeholders” are restricted to registered lobbyists, their
employees and corporations employing lobbyists as well as
“individuals employed in, contracted by, or who otherwise represent
corporations and organizations that have current or anticipated
official dealings” with government.”
Given this
definition, either most of us should not be here or you have
incorrectly labeled us.
You have
included the following:
clients
like me
research groups like CIMVIR
commemorative groups
Canadian Corps of Commissionaires
charities
private groups
advocacy groups and individual
advocates
lobbists
OVO
You had better explain why we were
selected and what we are doing here.
If these summits
and groups are closed to most veterans, then participation should
require a minimum of either an actively involved community directly
affected by VAC policies and programs or a recognized expertise
and/or knowledge-base to understand the importance and impact of
such policies. Arguably, many invited organizations have neither.
You keep doing the same thing over and
over again expecting a different outcome, but this is insanity. It
does not matter who says things, they are repeating what other VAC
personnel have already said. Every new minister has to have
sufficient time to settle into the job before we should expect
anything. Again this is a fallacious argument because most ministers
are never in the job long enough. It is likely that you will move on
before fulfilling your mandate.
I was told that
the agenda was only finalised last Friday, despite the fact that
this summit has been planned for over a month. Do you expect us to
believe that the agenda was not ready after the speakers for this
summit were selected? If they had enough time to prepare for this,
then why were we not given the same respect? The agenda was also
developed from the last summit and yet there is an obvious lack of
continuity. This is the same format as the previous summit that I
attended in April 2015. How is repeating the format of the previous
government an example of the Prime Minister's statement that you
will be held accountable for your commitment to bring a different
style of leadership to government. Many of the most important issues
are not being addressed and the subjects of the presentations seem
odd choices as replacements.
For example the
budget, we have no input in this. Why do you think that this should
be the first topic?
You would need
days to fully explore your budget. It would be better to discuss
Re-establishment of lifelong pensions as stated in your mandate
letter.
Why are you presenting on medical
marijuana when there is a departmental review going on? You are
projecting the outcome of the review with your own opinion by
discussing it. Why is it okay to talk about this but not other
topics? Why are we expected to be here for a second day while your
staff fiddle about to have a 90 minute Facebook session. What is our
role, to amuse ourselves? You do not need us as a captive audience
when you could do this undefined activity at any time.
There is also no
discussion of what has happened since the last summit. And it would
be nice to know what you have been doing behind closed doors
contrary to the Open and Accountable Government. I draw your
attention in particular to the Ethical Guidelines set out in Annex A
of that document, which apply to you and your staff. For example,
you and the Justice Minister recently entered into an agreement to
dismantle the VAC stand-alone, legal services unit - in existence
since the department was formed. It appears you agreed to transfer
responsibility for providing VAC legal services to a federal
department in Ottawa - Employment and Social Development Canada
(ESDC). Why???
It would be nice
if everyone here was privy to the contents of “Open and Accountable
Government” so that we can monitor your compliance.
What about
homeless vets, the seamless transition from DND to VAC, the Equitas
lawsuit, hiring of staff, the six advisory groups and other very
important issues?
On the topic of
hiring or re-hiring, will you ensure that Veterans are given a
priority for all jobs? And if not, why not? How many people have
been hired and what are their jobs? Why do you continue to employ
people who have not satisfactorily performed their assigned duties?
What have you done to reduce the stressful working conditions for
front-line employees?
On the topic of
the advisory groups, why do we not know their composition, mandates,
terms of reference and other important information. Why did the
members have to sign non-disclosure agreements? Again this is in
contravention of your government's policy on transparency and
accountability.
One concern that
I have which affects all of your clients, is the ongoing privacy
scandal. You are allowing the Royal Canadian Legion access to client
personal information. Rather than improving security, you have been
a collaborator in reducing security. Having had unauthorised people
examine my own file, I am again shocked by this recent revelation.
Here we are years after your department was to have solved its
privacy problems and the solutions have not been implemented fully.
If you are not competent to safeguard our information, it is highly
likely there are other problems.
These summits
should be the forum in which you report to Veterans on your progress
toward fulfilling your commitments and to help develop effective
measures that asses the impact of the organisations for which you
are answerable. If the format of the two summits of which you have
been minister are examples of your leadership and response to your
mandate from the Prime Minister, then you have failed to provide a
change in leadership and failed to obey the Prime Minister. Do not
blame your failures on lack of time or others. The buck stops at
your desk, no one else's.
If you want to
immediately prove me wrong then scrap this agenda and have a frank
conversation with us. Tell your subordinates to take notes and be
prepared to help you provide us with information. Tell us why you
deserve to continue as our minister. Tell us when you will complete
your mandate and what else you will do, not plan to try, to lay the
building blocks for a higher standard of service that will address
our needs. Tell us that you are truly listening to Veterans and
other Canadians.
I strongly
disagree with your philosophy that this is a game and that it is
less important whether win or lose, but it is the exercise. No, it
is important that Veterans are winners and they are not playing your
game. I watched your inspirational video on Youtube.
Remember Kent
for whom you work. You work for your clients, and we do not work for
you, but we can work with you, if you earn our respect and trust.
I will not
belabour you anymore with such concerns, but this is what I expect
from you:
a letter to all veterans
apologising to them for your failure to deliver on the mandate
letter from the Prime Minister in a timely manner;
a letter
to me apologising for aggravating my medical conditions;
compensation for this aggravation and wasting my time; and
a private
meeting with you so that we can discuss at length my other concerns.
If you are
unwilling to do this, then I expect your letter of resignation to
the Prime Minister. You can go try to be a minister of another
department more suited to your abilities.
This will not be
the only time that you will hear this veteran's voice.
Perry
Gray is a Regular Force veteran, serving as the Chief
Editor of VVi. Perry has been with VVi for 13 years. |
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VAC Stakeholder
Summit 9-10 May Videos
Video coverage of the subject summit may be viewed on our forum,
CSAT at:
http://csat.top-talk.net/t3552-videos-stakeholder-summit-may-9-10-2016
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