Questions and responses 41st Parliament, 1st session June 2, 2011, to September 13, 2013

With respect to the Veterans Burial Regulations and the Corporation named by the Department of Veterans Affairs Act to administer the Veterans Funeral and Burial program, specifically the Last Post Fund (LPF): (a) what is the annual amount of financial support and funding provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2006 to 2011 inclusively; (b) what is the statistical information, provided to the minister, on reimbursements provided by the LPF to assist in payment of funeral and burial costs for the estates of (i) First World War veterans, (ii) Second World War veterans, (iii) Korean War veterans, (iv) estates of veterans who received a disability benefit from Veterans Affairs Canada, (iv) estates of allied veterans; (c) what are the details of the annual administrative and operating costs of the LPF from 2006 to 2011 inclusively; (d) what are the details of the annual program costs of the Veterans Funeral and Burial Program from 2006 to 2011 inclusively; (e) what are the details of the annual salary costs for LPF staff from 2006 to 2011 inclusively; (f) what are the details of how frequently business plans, operating budgets, capital budgets and performance reports are submitted by the Corporation to the Minister; (g) what are the details of any departmental analysis concerning the raising of the means test for eligibility for support through the Veterans Funeral and Burial program; (h) what are the details of any departmental analysis concerning the extension of eligibility for a funeral and burial to all estate-tested Canadian Forces (CF) and RCMP veterans; (i) what is the estimated financial cost of extending eligibility to the Veterans Funeral and Burial program to all estate-tested CF and RCMP; (j) how often does the department conduct an assurance audit of the LPF; (k) when was the last time the government conducted an assurance audit of the LPF; and (l) when does the department plan to conduct the next assurance audit of the LPF?

With regard to the Last Post Fund and the agreements in place with Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) related to funeral expenses: (a) why does VAC not directly take care of the funeral expenses related to the death of veterans; (b) what restrictions exist that prevent a veteran or a veteran’s family from obtaining funds given for funeral expenses; (c) how many requests to cover funeral costs have been received by the Last Post Fund in each year since its creation; (d) of the requests in (c), how many were (i) accepted, (ii) rejected; (e) what were the reasons for every rejection in (d); (f) what is the breakdown of accepted requests, by veterans of (i) the First World War, (ii) the Second World War, (iii) the Korean War, (iv) the Gulf War, (v) NATO missions, (vi) Afghanistan, (vii) United Nations missions; (g) are the funds given to veterans to cover funeral expenses treated as taxable income; (h) are the funds given to the families of serving Canadian Forces members treated as taxable income; (i) what plan does VAC have to increase the amount given to families of veterans through the Last Post Fund; (j) what plan does VAC have to change the eligibility criteria for Last Post Fund resources; (k) what steps does VAC plan to take to increase the funds available to veterans so as to match what is given to serving members of the Canadian Forces for their funeral expenses; (l) what is the breakdown of contributions given to the Last Post Fund; (m) how much does VAC spend on the administration and promotion of the Last Post Fund; and (n) are funds allocated to the Last Post Fund subject to the Deficit Reduction Plan and budget cuts of 2011-2012, in the range of five to ten percent?

With regard to injuries and fatalities attributed to firearms in British Columbia: (a) for each year from 2001 to 2010 (inclusive), what are the number of injuries and what are the number of fatalities attributed to firearms in British Columbia in each category of non-restricted, restricted, and prohibited firearms and any firearm prescribed under the Criminal Code and associated regulations (including long guns); and (b) what number of the injuries and fatalities in (a) involved (i) suicides, (ii) accidents, (iii) incidents involving domestic violence, (iv) incidents involving women as victims, (v) incidents involving Aboriginal Canadians as victims?

With regard to veterans’ affairs, in each year since 2006 inclusively: (a) how many requests for assistance were made to the Veterans Affairs Canada Funeral and Burial Program; and (b) of those, how many in each year were accepted, and how many were rejected?

With regard to the case of Sergei Magnitsky: (a) is the government preparing a list containing the names of any individual that it has reasonable grounds to believe (i) is responsible for the detention, abuse or death of Sergei Magnitsky, (ii) has conspired to defraud the Russian Federation of taxes on corporate profits through fraudulent transactions and lawsuits against the foreign investment company known as Hermitage and to misappropriate property owned or controlled by Hermitage, (iii) has participated in efforts to conceal the legal responsibility of those individuals involved in the detention, abuse or death of Sergei Magnitsky or the existence of the conspiracy referred to in point (ii); (b) if the government is preparing a list as per (a), does the list include the names of the 60 senior Russian officials included by the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe on its list entitled “Individuals involved in the tax fraud against Hermitage and the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky”; (c) does the government plan to declare as ineligible for visas any foreign national whose name appears on the list referred to in (a), as well as the members of the foreign national’s immediate family; and (d) does the government plan to revoke the permanent or temporary resident status of any foreign national whose name appears on the list referred to in (a)?