I am not here for the sandwiches

Heads-up Minister Kent Hehr, at VAC Stakeholder Summit next week, I will be asking you questions about care for Military Sexual Trauma. This time, I hope you will have answers...

Remember last year? You invited me, a survivor of Military Sexual Trauma (MST), to your Summit for Veterans.  It was the first time someone was invited to represent MST at a Canadian Veterans Summit. I was very honoured!

Here Is why I wanted to be there

• After my sexual assault, I was pushed to quit my job.
• Nobody told me about your services.  
• I went on your website and found nothing for me.
• I went to my regional VAC Office and got sent home.
• There was no support for me. I felt like I did not belong anywhere.
• Soooo... I built a support group just for people like me. I quickly realized that many MST survivors were facing the same challenges as I was. I decided to work on making changes for all of us. This is when I got your invitation.
  

Now Picture this...

Here I am, surrounded by war Veterans and sitting at a table with my name on it.
I am eating a delicious vegetarian sandwich while listening about homeless war veterans, marijuana treatments, Afghan war pension versus World War II pension, commemoration for war vets, transition services for war vets, support animals to help war veterans…

This is when things went wrong...

I publicly asked three basic questions about care for Military Sexual Trauma and nobody was able to answer them.

did you know?

• I worked extra shift to accumulate enough time to be at your event!
  
• I asked my group for inputs. I searched for scarce Canadian Research on military rape and made a document!
  
• So... yes, I won't lie. I was a bit disappointed when I showed up. But that was the first time for both of us. This time, I thought I should give you an advance warning...
  

So...heads-up!

• I will be at you Summit again next week.
  
• I will ask you again if you are tracking VAC claims for MST and, this time, I hope you say ‘’yes’’.
  
• I will ask you again if you added basic info on your website for Military Sexual Trauma survivors and this time, I hope you say ‘’yes’’.

I will not just sit and eat sandwiches. I will honour the invitation you sent to me by asking well prepared questions.
- See you next week!