Blaney and Veterans Affairs Committee hear from LGBTQ2S+ veterans

This week, the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs continued their study of Fairness in the Services Offered to Veterans: Francophones and Anglophones, Men and Women, and the LGBTQ2S+ Community. As the NDP critic for Veterans and member of the Committee, North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney invited Comox resident, Sgt Nina Usherwood to present to the committee and speak to her experience as a transgender member of the Canadian Armed Forces, and recently applying to Veterans Affairs in advance of her upcoming release in August.

In her testimony, Sgt Usherwood described challenges in applying to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) with medical and service records that were tied to her former name and gender. In addition, the lack of a dedicated caseworker at Veterans Affairs results in veterans having to retell their story numerous times. Usherwood expressed how this is particularly difficult for members who have to revisit trauma with each telling.

“Not having a caseworker means you have to go back over and over and tell the same thing. Part of the trauma of the last thirteen years or so is doing exactly that—explaining who I am.” -Sgt. Nina Usherwood

Michelle Douglas, another witness to the committee, agreed, adding that proper training as well as consistency of caseworkers was critical, “I've heard on a number of cases when that first, initial, phone call did not go well. There was doubt or even mocking in a couple of cases. They never called veterans affairs back again. They felt so humiliated and shamed and it was re-traumatizing.”

Douglas served in the Armed Forces from 1986 to 1989 when she was honourably released during the military’s “LGTB purge”. She successfully launched a legal challenge of the military’s discriminatory policies of the day, and is now Executive Director of the LGBT Purge Fund, a non-profit that manages a portion of the results of a class action settlement.

“The issue of fair service delivery to veterans is a critical issue for Veterans Affairs to address. Members of the military who belong to the LGBTQ2S+ community deserve far better service from VAC when they transition out of the Canadian Armed Forces, and I will continue to press the Minister and his government to address their concerns.” -NDP critic for veterans, Rachel Blaney

The Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs will conclude its work on this study after another meeting at the end of March.