By Military Woman
Question:
What could be done this session of Parliament to help improve outcomes for Veterans?
Answer:
The winter sitting of the 45th Parliament of Canada runs from January 26 to June 19, 2026. Veterans could see real, measurable change this session if Parliament stops confusing activity with progress. Veterans do not need more studies, consultations, or testimony about employment strategies, homelessness initiatives, or departmental reform. Veterans need Parliament to enforce accountability so political promises result in improved Veteran outcomes.
Actions That Would Change Veteran Outcomes
Two practical actions Parliament could enable this session:
1. Shift the Burden of Proof to Government — Move the burden off sick and injured Veterans to prove service relationship when government already holds much of the required evidence. This would expand the number of claims that could be automatically (presumptively) approved as “more likely than not” service-related.
2. Direct Ministerial Accountability — Require the Minister of Veterans Affairs to report regularly to Parliament with outcome measures Veterans can actually see and feel. Use plain-language public reporting on whether government-funded programs improve Veteran well-being, name who owns results, and set clear timelines for improvement. When targets are missed, require corrective action.
This is what parliamentary accountability should look like when the stakes are people’s lives. These steps are not complicated. So why are these actions not already standard practice?
Why This Keeps Happening
The blunt truth is Canada is not short of scientific evidence, recommendations, or testimony on how to better support Veterans. What Canada lacks is a follow-through mandate that turns evidence into outcomes. Veterans keep appearing before committees with “fires” because preventable harm continues. Parliament already knows this, yet identified gaps stay unchanged year after year. This is not a debate about whether harm exists; it is about whether oversight produces correction.
Zimmerman’s Fire Alarm Analogy
That is why Retired Corporal Erin Zimmerman’s analogy has resonated with many Veterans. On December 5, 2024, Zimmerman, a Veteran living with early-onset Parkinson’s testified to the National Defence Committee about possible health impacts plausibly linked to environmental contamination exposures from working and living on Canadian bases. Later, she described the pattern:
“Within government, Veterans keep triggering the equivalent of fire alarms. But those alarms keep getting ignored, not because the warnings are false, but because the system is not designed to let people act on them. Instead, the system rewards people to silence the alarms, move them out of sight, or divide the noise across silos, until the alarm stops or the fire burns out while the cause remains unaddressed.”
Many Veterans recognize that pattern. An issue is identified. An alarm is raised. Leadership acknowledges the concern. Then the system “manages” the alarm by spreading responsibility for it so widely that no one person or office can be held accountable for fixing the root cause. The cycle repeats.
What Fire Codes Look Like in Government
For Veterans, the cost is real. Many are asked to relive and publicly share painful experiences through emotionally taxing testimony, only to watch promised reforms stall again and again. Outcomes do not seem to improve. Over time, this erodes Veterans’ trust in Parliament and the process itself. When everyone owns a piece of the problem, no one is accountable for the result.
For Canada, the costs compound: financial liabilities, legal exposure, workforce impacts, and a growing moral-injury debt from institutional betrayal owed to those whom the country asked to serve.
Zimmerman’s metaphor is correct: fire alarms don’t stop fires. Enforced fire codes do. Fire codes make accountability unavoidable. They reward prevention, correction, and follow-through. That is what Veterans need from Parliament this session: measurable, enforceable action. Good intentions alone are not enough. Parliament must require results.
Parliament holds responsibility for oversight of the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP through legislation, funding, and committee scrutiny. Those injured or made ill through service deserve more than another cycle of testimony requests and study recommendations that change nothing. Veterans like Zimmerman have done their part: they served, they testified, and they warned to protect others.
This session, Parliament must do its part: stop silencing alarms and enforce the fire code, with consequences when it isn’t followed.
