Veterans Affairs Canada service agent who raised medical assistance in dying 'no longer an employee'

Question Period: MAID extension delayed 3 years Justice Minister Arif Virani explains why the government is choosing to delay the expansion of medical assistance in dying.

The Veterans Affairs Canada service agent who the department says "was responsible" for all four confirmed cases of medical assistance in dying (MAID) being discussed with veterans is "no longer an employee."

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay’s office has confirmed to CTV News that on Tuesday, the labour relations process involving this individual had concluded.

“The employee who was responsible for all four confirmed cases of MAID discussions with veterans is no longer an employee at veterans affairs Canada. This employee had not been at work since this issue came up in the summer, and has not been interacting with veterans since then," said MacAulay's press secretary Erika Lashbrook Knutson.

Going forward, a new policy will be in place: in instances where veterans bring up MAID on a call with a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) service agent, that discussion will be elevated to the employee's supervisor as an additional guardrail.

As the minister and his office have previously emphasised, VAC employees have no role in raising assisted dying with veterans in their course of offering assistance to former members' of the Canadian Armed Forces.

This fall, MacAulay confirmed to a parliamentary committee that the department had found four instances of MAID being offered to veterans during an internal investigation that was prompted by reporting from Global News last summer.

"If any of the veterans in question are watching or listening right now, I am sorry. I am sorry you had to endure these appalling interactions and we are doing everything we can to ensure this never happens again," MacAulay said on Nov. 24.

MacAulay said the four instances, which took place between 2019 and May 2022, were "all related to one single employee and it's not a widespread or a systemic issue," and added that the RCMP was also contacted for potential charges.

"We expect all Veterans Affairs Canada employees to interact with veterans with care, compassion and respect, and the actions of this one employee is simply disgusting," he said.

As the story continued to play out at the committee, Conservative MPs questioned whether the issue may be more widespread than the department has confirmed, citing additional examples of veterans who have alleged experiencing similar interactions with VAC employees.

In response, Veterans Affairs Deputy Minister Paul Ledwell told MPs on Dec. 5 that the department was working with the facts it had, and that after reviewing more than 400,000 unique veterans' files for any reference to MAID being raised inappropriately, the department remained at four cases.

Both he and MacAulay have implored any veterans with additional information to come forward, either to the department or the Veterans' Ombudsperson.

"It's critically important as the minister has underlined and as we have stated repeatedly, that we get to the bottom of this, the full breadth of this, and we address the issue," Ledwell said at the time.

With files from CTV News' Tom Yun