Sharon Squire, Veterans Deputy Ombuds
Photo Credit: Sharon Squire
Esprit de Corps Magazine June 2022 // Volume 29 Issue 5
Let's Talk About Women in the Military – Column 39
by Military Woman
Question:
What is new at the Office of the Veterans Ombud?
Answer:
In April 2022, Sharon Squire retired as the Deputy Ombud and Executive Director for the Office of the Veterans Ombud (OVO). Squire had served as the Ottawa-based eyes and ears for the Charlottetown office since 2015, where her steady hands provided important departmental continuity in the face of frequent Ombud turnovers. Under Squire’s guidance, the OVO has become recognized as a “voice for the voiceless.” This enhanced capacity to speak on behalf of “voiceless” Veterans is due, in considerable part, to OVO having become an early adopter of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) and sex disaggregated data collection (SAGER). These practices having, in turn, led to more informed and fairer reports and recommendations.
For those not familiar with the OVO, its mandate includes ensuring that all Veterans receive fair,and timely access to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) services, benefits and supports. The office was formed in 2007 with Col (Retired) Pat Stogran named as the first Ombud. Stogran has since been followed by CWO (Retired) Guy Parent (2010), Col (Retired) Craig Dalton (2018), and most recently by Col (Retired) Nishika Jardine (2020).
One of the key advocacy tools available to the OVO, is its authority to investigate VAC on matters related to systemic unfairness. The OVO presents its investigative reports to the VAC Minister for review, acceptance, and (hopefully) implementation of recommendations. The OVO publishes an annual report on the VAC rates of OVO report recommendation implementation. Unfortunately the OVO’s 2021 report card found that almost one-third of the OVO’s recommendations, for the fairer treatment of Veterans, had yet to be actioned.
VAC Wait Times – Improving
Unactioned OVO recommendations include several from the 2018 report, “Meeting Expectations: Timely and Transparent Decisions for Canada’s Ill and Injured Veterans.” This historical report highlighted processing delays for claims, especially those made in French or by women. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs (ACVA) spoke with the Ombud on this and other issues on March 25, 2022, as part of its study on “Fairness in the Services Offered to Veterans.” The Ombud acknowledged the number one complaint to her office was still related to VAC wait times and that francophone women continue to face the longest waits for VAC decisions. The Ombud, however, encouraged a refocusing from claim time waits and numbers to a priority triage for first-time VAC claimants, especially those without a CAF pension and/or public health and dental service plan coverage.
Military Sexual Trauma Peer Support – Still Needed
In June 2021, the OVO released a report on “Peer Support for Veterans who have Experienced Military Sexual Trauma.” This report identified how government continues to not provide equitable supports to those with occupational health injuries and illness related to military sexual trauma (MST) when compared to the supports provided for other types of service-related injuries and illness. The MST peer support program, long promised by the federal government, remains a needed and eagerly anticipated support for victims of this longstanding and injurious wrong committed against too many servicemembers.
Sexual Dysfunction Claims – Bias Found
In April 2022, the OVO released “Adjudication of Sexual Dysfunction Claims Consequential to an Entitled Psychiatric Condition.” In this report, the OVO concluded a sex-based bias was present in how VAC asked for, collected, analysed, and evaluated data related to sexual dysfunction claims other than erectile dysfunction. Five recommendations were made to the VAC Minister on how to potentially best fix this bias.
Sharon Squire has now handed over her OVO duties to Duane Schippers, the previous OVO Senior Counsel and Director Strategic Review and Analysis. We wish her well in her new “post-retirement” role as the incoming Royal Ottawa Hospital board chair, which is also home to a VAC-funded Operational Stress Injury (OSI) clinic and Atlas (formerly known as the Centre of Excellence for PTSD).
Thank you to all the OVO Executive Directors and Deputy Ombuds for all you have done, and will undoubtably continue to do, in the support of Canada and Canadian Veterans.
Update:
2022. Sharon Squire was named as a Esprit de Corps “Top Women in Defence” award winner and Chair of the Board for the Royal Ottawa Hospital.
