The federal government is launching a \u201cfull and thorough\u201d investigation into the case of a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) employee discussing medical assistance in dying (MAiD) with a veteran.<\/p>\n
In a statement provided to Global News on Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay said that the minister \u201chas directed his Deputy Minister to undertake a full and thorough investigation into this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
MacAulay is also ordering that, \u201call front line staff at Veterans Affairs Canada are given formal training, direction, and advice on how to approach issues around MAiD,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n
The investigation and training come after Global News first reported on Aug. 16 that a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) employee had discussed medically-assisted dying with a veteran, a case that veterans\u2019 advocates said made clear the stark stakes of the ongoing struggle for veterans to access supports.<\/p>\n
Sources told Global News a VAC service agent brought up MAiD unprompted in a conversation with the combat veteran, who was seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury.<\/p>\n
Global News is not identifying the veteran who was seeking treatment due to privacy concerns but has spoken directly with the individual, who says the service agent brought up MAiD repeatedly and even after the veteran asked the service agent to stop.<\/p>\n
The veteran said he felt pressured as a result.<\/p>\n
He also said that the service agent told him in the call about having helped another veteran access resources for medical assistance in dying through Veterans Affairs Canada, including support for that person\u2019s children who were struggling with the impending death.<\/p>\n
The veteran told Global News that service agent told him that the other veteran went through with a medically-assisted death, and that it had been someone who was determined to end his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter than blowing his brains out all over the wall or driving his car into something,\u201d the veteran says the service agent told him when describing that separate case.<\/p>\n
Veterans Affairs Canada said earlier this week it was looking into the matter.<\/p>\n
The department and its staff do not have the ability to provide the resources for an assisted death, but veterans advocates have raised serious concerns about the impact of even raising the subject.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like planting a seed,\u201d said Debbie Lowther, executive director of VETS Canada, a charity that helps veterans in crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have a veteran who\u2019s already struggling with their mental health and maybe they are contemplating suicide \u2026 this is an opportunity that\u2019s been presented to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For some, the thought of taking their own life and having a loved one find their body may have been a deterrent to going through with suicidal thoughts, she explained.<\/p>\n
But presenting the option to have a medically-assisted death instead, Lowther said, \u201ccould have very, very damaging consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bruce Moncur, founder of the Afghanistan Veterans Association of Canada, raised similar concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that veteran was close to the edge, that might have been the hair that broke the camel\u2019s back,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s so cavalier with somebody\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moncur fought in Afghanistan as a reservist and sustained a traumatic brain injury after being shot in the head while deployed. He said learning of the service agent bringing up medical assistance in dying to a veteran left him feeling \u201cshock, outrage, anger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy understanding [is] this staff is still on the payroll and still working at their job, which is unacceptable to me. I just cannot understand how this person can still be trusted,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI\u2019m wondering, is this my case manager? Is this somebody that I have trying to look after me?\u201c<\/p>\n
Moncur, whose partner is NDP MP Niki Ashton, also criticized MacAulay\u2019s performance in the job.<\/p>\n
He said he sits on the Service Excellence Advisory Group, which advises the minister, and tried to call an emergency meeting about the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey denied my request,\u201d Moncur said. \u201cThey said that we were going to have a meeting in September anyway, so might as well just wait until then.\u201c<\/p>\n
Global News sent a list of detailed questions about the specifics of the allegations made by the veteran to officials at Veterans Affairs Canada. In response, the department stated they do not record phone conversations between veterans and staff in order to protect privacy.<\/p>\n
The department said it could not corroborate the allegations made by the veteran that the service agent had described helping a separate veteran access medical assistance in dying, or about the veteran\u2019s claim that the agent told the separate veteran that MAiD was \u201cbetter than blowing his brains out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The veteran who spoke with Global News has said he filed multiple complaints about the service agent since July 21, 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Veteran client called VAC to share what happened on the call, we immediately took action to address the situation and apologized to the client,\u201d a spokesperson for Veterans Affairs Canada said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs directed by the Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Deputy Minister will oversee a thorough internal investigation into this matter and take any appropriate administrative actions necessary to ensure this situation doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, all VAC frontline staff will be provided training as a reminder of the expectations and the available programs and services offered by the Department to support the health and well-being of Veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under Canadian law, medically-assisted death can only be discussed between a primary care provider like a physician or psychiatrist and their patient.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What. The. Fuck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Canada has a reputation for being a place with nice scenery, nice fishing, and, above all, … PTSD and TBI from your service? The Canadian VA says, “We’d like to help you kill yourself”<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[220,213,631,86,226,143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-floggings-will-continue-until-morale-improves","category-your-tax-dollars-at-work","category-canada","category-veteran-health-care","category-veterans-in-the-news","category-veterans-affairs-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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