Names, work contact information for Veterans Affairs staff now secret
Documents cite safety, but official denies it
Almost all of the more than 3,000 employees of Veterans Affairs have removed their names from a public online directory, with the department claiming that frontline staff have to be protected from the veterans they are supposed to serve.
The issue surfaced in June when a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) staff member questioned why of the 3,767 department contact names on the federal government electronic directory only 95 were visible to the public, according to Access to Information documents.
Veterans Affairs official Ricardo Angel, an information technology adviser with the department, responded that hiding the names and contact information was done on purpose as “we decided to err on the side of caution, as hundreds of case managers are not to be listed publicly.”
Crystal Garrett-Baird, the department’s director of privacy and information management, said the “real issue is the case managers and VSAs,” referring to veterans service agents and those public servants who are supposed to help former military personnel get the care and benefits they require. “My understanding is that their work contact is not to be made publicly available unless they decide to share with a client,” she wrote in a June 16 email. “This ensures that calls are routed through (a central call network) and the safety of field staff is considered.”
But veteran advocate Sean Bruyea said the documents he obtained through the Access to Information law are further proof of how out of touch the department is with the people they are supposed to serve. “I think it’s part of a really dysfunctional culture at Veterans Affairs,” said Bruyea, an outspoken critic of VAC. “They view veterans as dangerous and angry and they want to hide from the very clients they claim to serve.”
“What happened to the Liberal government’s policy of openness and transparency?” he asked.
Bruyea said one of the main complaints he hears from veterans is the difficulty in contacting someone at the department to help them or having staff there return their calls. They are often not allowed to contact specific staff working on their files directly and instead have to go through a 1-800 phone number at a central call network and then wait for a response, he added.
But department spokeswoman Emily Gauthier said the issue of removing the names has nothing to do with safety but with improving service.
Gauthier noted that by routing calls through a toll free number veterans can speak to an analyst that will answer questions, provide information or redirect the call to the appropriate person. “This allows us to triage the calls and assign them correctly and in a timely fashion in order to ensure clients get the best service possible,” she added in the email. Outside business hours, veterans can access psychological support through the department assistance service, she said.
Any veteran can get a direct phone number for the individual assigned to their case, although the case worker has to agree to that.
“Calls from veterans looking to speak with their case managers will be transferred accordingly,” Gauthier noted. “If the case manager is not available, veteran will be invited to leave a message or to speak with another case manager who is available.”
The response from the department, however, does not include an explanation why employees stated in internal correspondence with each other that the contact information was removed because of safety concerns. The response also does not explain why the names and contact information for the bulk of the department’s employees who are not involved in dealing directly with veterans needs to be kept secret.
A search for Crystal Garrett-Baird, who is also the department’s Access to Information chief, and Ricardo Angel in the government online directory did not turn up any listings. It is unclear why their names and their contact information is considered so sensitive that it couldn’t be listed.
Retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm, whose job in the Canadian Forces was to help injured soldiers, said he saw firsthand the negative attitude Veterans Affairs staff have toward those they are supposed to help. “There is a culture of fear in VAC offices and I’m guessing a culture of distancing VAC personnel from veterans for a number of reasons including liability etc.,” Westholm explained.
There was also an obsession with security among VAC staff, with significant security measures put in place, including secure doors, escape plans and hidden alarm code systems installed on desks, said Westholm, who during his job visited a number of department offices.