Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute to an outstanding individual, a Canadian hero and beloved veteran of the Korean War, the late Donald Sudden, who passed away on November 22, 2022, just shy of his ninetieth birthday. He was the last president of the Korea Veterans Association of Canada Heritage Unit, which disbanded at the end of August 2021.

Don proudly joined the Canadian Army on June 7, 1951, and served with the Royal Canadian Artillery, 216 Battery at Petawawa, to train for Korea. He went to Korea in January 1953 and fought in hand-to-hand combat in the Battle of Hill 187 as a front-line gunner in the artillery, alongside the 3^rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment. He was on Forward Line Crew until the July 27, 1953, signing of the armistice, then was assigned peacekeeping duties on the White Front, now the demilitarized zone, or the DMZ.

He left Korea in March 1954 and returned to Canada. From 1965 to 1966, he served in Vietnam as part of International Commission for Supervision and Control, and from 1966 to 1967 in Cyprus as part of a peacekeeping mission.

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In 1972, he retired from the Canadian Armed Forces after 21 years of service.

Don’s smile would light up a room, with his contagious laughter and positive outlook on life. He was humble to the core, always appreciating life’s blessings. He was one of my most active Facebook friends. I will miss his thumbs up or hearts and comments on every single post that I made. I will also miss him on our Zoom calls with his signature smile and raspy voice.

To Grace, his beloved widow, I offer my sincere condolences. Don was a devoted husband, and your love was an inspiration. I will miss our visits and hearing Don’s stories. Please know that you are not alone. Don touched so many lives, and his legacy will live on in each of us. We will continue to share his stories and his zest for life and carry a little piece of him in our hearts. Through my advocacy work and that of others, we promise to hold high the torch and uphold the legacy of the Korean War and the selfless sacrifices of our veterans of the Korean War.

Honourable senators, please join me in remembering the late Don Sudden, a Canadian hero of the Korean War. May he rest in peace.

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, I rise today in advance of Veterans’ Week and Remembrance Day to pay tribute to those men and women who donned the uniform of this great nation, and at Her command went forth to defend those who could no longer defend themselves and to fight for the very freedoms that we enjoy today.

Recently, I was struck by a very powerful image: That of the lone regimental banner of The Royal Canadian Regiment, or RCR, standing, torn and dusty on Hill 355, on the morning of October 23, 1952. B Company of the RCR had just spent the night being pummelled by Chinese artillery and probed by assault troops. So chaotic was the engagement that the Canadians were forced to regroup into small units, cut off from their comrades.

That regimental banner, like the heroes of Hill 355, was battered and torn but not broken. It stood as a reminder of the commitment and resolve of our men and women in uniform who stood tall in the face of adversity, said “Not today” and, through grit and determination, won through.

The image of that banner is a haunting symbol of not only the sacrifices and tribulations our veterans faced in such places as the ridge at Vimy, the ruins of Passchendaele, the beaches in Normandy, the valley and hills at Gapyeong or the grape fields of Kandahar — but also a symbol of the people they came to save and protect.

Like that fluttering and tarnished banner, the South Korean people, too, were worn out, sullied, alone and without hope when nations like Canada answered. Over 26,000 would volunteer to serve in the Korean War, and they, along with their UN allies, ensured that South Koreans, like my family, would have a future free of Communist oppression.

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We can never repay the debt we owe to our veterans. All we can do is dedicate our lives to living in their example, and honour their sacrifices through participating in and protecting those precious rights and freedoms won through their actions. Honourable senators, we will remember them.

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, I rise in celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day. This day is part of the Celebrate Canada program, which also includes Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, Canadian Multiculturalism Day and Canada Day itself. National Indigenous Peoples Day is an integral part of the Celebrate Canada program in that it completes the recognition of Canada’s multi-faceted diversity. Collectively, these four days allow for a completely inclusive recognition of all the peoples who together have built our country.

From the earliest days of Canada, Indigenous peoples contributed to the defence of Canada, doing so in the War of 1812, in the two world wars fought during the 20th century, assisting in the defence of my homeland of Korea and contributing to Canada’s military efforts in the peacekeeping missions and conflicts that have occurred since that time.

One of the most decorated Indigenous veterans was Tommy Prince, who bravely served in both World War II and the Korean War. Too often the contributions made by Indigenous peoples have not been given the recognition they so justly deserve.

In this regard, I believe it is so important that the War of 1812 Book of Remembrance unveiled in Parliament’s Memorial Chamber just a few years ago incorporates a listing of individual Indigenous warriors who gave their lives in the struggle which preserved their own individual nations and Canada itself in the face of invasion.

We also recognize the countless number of Indigenous peoples in all walks of life who have contributed so much to bettering the lives of their own people and all Canadians. There are literally too many people to name, but in my own field of education, we have the inspiring contributions of people like Verna Kirkness, an educational trailblazer in Manitoba; Janet Smylie, associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto; and our very own former colleague, the honourable Lillian Dyck, who served as a professor in the neuropsychology research unit, Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Saskatchewan before serving in the Senate with distinction.

On this day, we recognize and acknowledge all of their contributions to the building of our country. The historical relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada has often been difficult, but through the day that we celebrate today, we proclaim both our gratitude and our determination to move forward together as we build Canada.

Thank you.

Senator Martin: I’m glad to hear it is a priority. However, leader, the Auditor General found that RCMP veterans wait significantly longer than Canadian Armed Forces veterans for decisions on their applications, with a wait time of 51 weeks versus 37 weeks. Women wait 24% longer than their male counterparts to have their applications processed. As well, francophone veterans, whom you mentioned, wait 21% longer than anglophones.

These ongoing discrepancies between different groups should not come as a surprise to this government. In fact, I raised the long wait for benefits faced by francophone veterans with Minister Petitpas Taylor during Question Period last month.

Will the NDP-Liberal government ever be able to improve service to all veterans, regardless of the group to which they belong, or does your government still believe, as the Prime Minister said in 2018, that veterans are asking for more than the government is able to give?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is also for the government leader in the Senate. Last week’s report from the Auditor General shows that the NDP-Liberal government continues to fail our veterans when it comes to the timely processing of their applications for disability benefits. The Auditor General found that veterans applying for benefits for the first time wait an average of 39 weeks for a decision — more than double the service standard of 16 weeks. The report stated the service standard itself has not been met for seven years. As well, Veterans Affairs Canada doesn’t know if any of the initiatives taken recently to speed up processing have worked or whether they slowed down processing instead.

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Leader, why does your government continue to do such a poor job of providing our veterans with the benefits they earned in service to our country?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Minister, a 2018 report by the former Veterans Ombudsman found that francophone veterans were waiting longer than anglophone veterans for decisions from Veterans Affairs Canada after applying for disability benefits.

According to an Order Paper answer tabled in the Senate, francophone veterans are still waiting longer than anglophone veterans. As of last February, the average processing time for applications was nearly 39 weeks for francophones and 31.5 weeks for anglophones.

Minister, since your government has been aware of this situation for four years now, why does it continue to accept this inequity in the treatment of francophone veterans when it comes to the services offered?

Senator Martin: I have another question about lapsed spending. In November 2018, the Trudeau government supported a motion in the other place that called upon the government to automatically carry forward all annual lapsed spending at Veterans Affairs to the next fiscal year, until the department meets its own service standards.

Instead of fixing the problem, this government has made the situation worse. Over the first four years of this Liberal government, about $477 million went unspent at Veterans Affairs Canada. The funding that lapsed at Veterans Affairs last year alone far exceeds that amount.

Leader, why did the Prime Minister not live up to his 2015 election promise to end this practice? And why hasn’t your government respected the motion passed in 2018? Does the Prime Minister still believe that veterans are asking for more than his government is willing to give?

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate.

As Senator Marshall noted recently, last year’s public accounts were not tabled by the Trudeau government until December 14, which is much later than usual. These public accounts showed the Department of Veterans Affairs lapsed over $634 million in spending last year. This is a tremendous amount of money to leave unspent at Veterans Affairs, especially in light of a backlog in processing disability claims that stood at over 40,000 applications at the end of June 2021.

Leader, given the long wait faced by our veterans for benefits they have earned by serving our country, why did the Trudeau government allow $634 million to go unspent at Veterans Affairs last year?