Cyd Courchesne, Veteran and VAC’s Chief Medical Officer
Photo Credit: LinkedIn
Esprit de Corps Magazine August 2023 // Volume 30 Issue 7
Let's Talk About Women in the Military – Column 53
by Military Woman
Question:
What has been happening at the “Experience of Women Veterans” Parliamentary study?
Answer:
In continuation of the last two “Military Woman” columns (Vol 30 Issues 5 and 6), we resume our look at some of the testimony to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs (ACVA) study on the “Experience of Women Veterans.”
The study’s seventh meeting, held on May 4, 2023, highlighted two Veterans who are also Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) employees. Acting Director General, Centralized Operations Division, Trudie MacKinnon, announced that the update of VAC’s Table of Disabilities, which goes hand in hand with VAC’s Entitlement Eligibility Guidelines, should be published no later than March 2024. She also noted that since 2020, VAC has processed over 3,400 military sexual trauma related claims, with 28% of those claims being submitted by men.
Rachel Blaney, a NDP Member of Parliament (MP), asked “When a new injury is approved and a benefit is attached to that injury — for example, a service-related case of female infertility,” how does that type of new information get disseminated?
VAC’s Chief Medical Officer, Cyd Courschesne, responded, that VAC uses several different mechanisms to disseminate new information. She stated the expectation that new information of this nature would be shared with all the staff who receive that type of application, case managers, and veteran service agents. She also stated that such new information would be put out on VAC’s social media platforms and on "My VAC” accounts.
The MP then asked in follow-up “if there’s a complaint or somebody feels like that has not happened, who do they complain to?”
To which VAC’s Chief Medical Officer replied, “it’s 1-800-Cyd-Courchesne.”
Unfortunately, that phone number is non-functioning. A better (and functioning) phone number that Veterans could use to complain about VAC related issues is 1-877-330-4343 (the Office of the Veterans Ombud).
The study’s eighth meeting, held on May 8, 2023, saw three Veterans testifying. First was Dawn McIlmoyle, who many may still remember as one of the 1998 Maclean’s magazine cover stories on military sexual misconduct. One of her many powerful statements was “if the military is serious about recruiting more women, Veterans Affairs has to start understanding that there are different needs for women, especially if a woman was abused and has isolated herself for any period of time.”
Next to testify was Sandra Perron, whose military experiences are well described both online and in her book (soon to be a movie) – “Out Standing in the Field.” She now works as CEO of the “Pepper Pod” – a VAC supported women Veteran retreat centre in Gatineau. She also presently serves as the Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel for Le Régiment de Hull. She had a spirited exchange with the ACVA chair on the importance of precise terminology in French. Shortly thereafter, the ACVA did update its French terminology to match VAC’s lead and now also uses the term “Vétéranes” instead of “femme Vétérans.”
The third Veteran to speak was Carolyn Hughes, now Director Veterans Services, Royal Canadian Legion. She challenged VAC to update its policies more quickly after precedent-setting Veterans Review and Appeal Board decisions are made. She also noted that she is seeing more women Veterans successfully filing VAC disability claims for musculoskeletal injuries related to ill-fitting equipment and for various sexual dysfunction issues including anorgasmia. She encouraged VAC to continue its ongoing integration of gender-based analysis in all that it does. “One size fits all” approaches simply does not work well for all Veterans. It is better to consider “the unique needs of every veteran, whether they're women, men or LGBTQ2.” In summary, she stated “the CAF and VAC have an opportunity right now to demonstrate leadership by strategically planning on how best to enable and optimize the well-being of women veterans. For those who serve and who have served honourably and proudly, this is the least we can do.“
If you, or anyone you know, have topics or recommendations for this ongoing Parliamentary study on Women Veterans – please contact the ACVA’s clerk at ACVA@parl.gc.ca
