VAC's AI Direction found! I am terrified, you should be as well.
For over a decade, I’ve tried to make Canada’s largest veterans organization stronger, smarter, more effective, and more accountable. I’ve pushed for reforms, transparency, strategy, and courage, all in the hope that one day, when something truly dangerous was coming toward the veteran community, the organization with the resources, the building in Ottawa, the paid analysts, the policy staff, the so-called insiders would actually see it first.
But they didn’t.
And that is why I’m disappointed.
Not angry. Not surprised. Just disappointed.
Because the battlefield was shifting in a way no one was talking about. And instead of watching the terrain, instead of anticipating threats, instead of proactively protecting the people they exist to defend, the Legion was, once again, reactive, soft, and absent. They also weren't a veterans organization that most contemporary veterans felt there was a place. I sure feel that way again, after convincing myself that maybe there was.
After I wrote two articles on what kind of AI Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) might be planning to build, I decided to dig deeper. Public access in Canada is pretty good if you know where to look.
So I looked.
What I found terrifies me.
Not in a dramatic way of a horror movie in a sober, technical, entirely evidence-based way. In the way I once watched a Norwegian Frigate in Brussels not get steerage way on in a river and coming strait at us alongside while we had open ship (public visits) going on, and all I could do was scream at the boatswains mate to pipe emergency stations and brace for collision. The ship missed us by less than a meter (thank god). Why was I, the cook, the one to notice? I did a cross pollination sail for a couple days on that frigate and was waving good bye to a girl I met. The officer of the day found that all funny when told "it was Richardson that raised the alarm", but...I digress. It's time to raise the alarm again, this time I have been looking because it was apparent that the legion wasn't. It's that basic.
Because buried in the federal Open Data portal, lying in plain sight, are the Algorithmic Impact Assessments for VAC’s automation projects. Not proposals. Not ideas. Not concepts.
Systems. Being built. Right now.
And here is what those official documents say.
VAC Mental Health Automation System
Impact Level: 2 (High impact on vulnerable populations) Used to determine: Immediate access to mental health treatment coverage
What VAC openly admits:
No human involvement required in decisions
The system can make eligibility determinations without a human touching the file.
No bias testing
Zero processes to ensure the model isn’t discriminating.
No gender analysis
GBA+ was never done. Not even once.
No plan for recourse
The form literally says: “Is there a recourse mechanism? — No.”
System interfaces with multiple IT systems
Meaning automated decisions will be influenced by data flows no one has fully mapped.
Impacts rated “HIGH” for health and well-being
VAC Disability Benefits Automation System
Impact Level: 2 (High, long-term consequences) Used to determine: Disability benefits, awards, compensation, lifelong entitlements
This one is worse.
VAC confirms:
The system replaces human decisions requiring judgment
Direct quote: “Will the system be replacing a decision that would otherwise be made by a human? — Yes.”
“Most impacts are perpetual.”
Not my words — theirs. They openly state the consequences are permanent.
High impact on financial well-being
Because disability awards = income.
Uses unstructured data (images, audio, text)
Meaning automation will read:
No bias testing of any kind
“No” to documentation, testing, frameworks, oversight.
No data-quality process
Outdated or unreliable data can be used to deny a claim.
No GBA+
Again. Not done. This pisses me off, how MANY thousands of hours has the community, parliament, the senate spent on not just examining this issue but PROVED it's vital for VAC service... how god damned many?
Recommended by LinkedIn
Not publicly posting datasets used (not the data per se)
Meaning zero transparency.
No version tracking in audit trails
You cannot even know which version of the algorithm made the decision that affected your life.
System will interface with multiple IT systems
Errors in one system can cascade into automated denial.
System can make decisions before an adjudicator reviews anything
Put plainly:
VAC is building automation that can determine your disability eligibility, your compensation, your access to treatment, and your financial future: without a human reviewing your file. Using models that have never been tested for bias, fairness, data quality, or gender impacts.
This is not speculation. This is not interpretation. This is not fearmongering.
This information comes directly from: Treasury Board. Government of Canada. Official Algorithmic Impact Assessments.
Every line is their own admission.
Why This Matters
Veterans are not an everyday client group. They are vulnerable by definition. They are often medically fragile, financially exposed, and navigating trauma, injury, and complex systems.
Automating decisions for this population — without oversight, without safeguards, without transparency — is not modernization.
It is risk.
Serious, avoidable, unmonitored risk.
And the worst part?
Almost no one noticed.
The Legion didn’t issue a warning. The major organizations didn’t raise a flag. Ottawa insiders didn’t brief anyone. No press releases. No briefings. No questions at Committee. Nothing.
If I hadn't dug, some former Canadian Forces cook living in the states of all places, would the community EVER be warned on what is coming? Because, this is going to affect ALL Canadian Armed Forces veterans and our families.
Because, this is what is coming:
Not one warning. Not one press release. Not one article. Not one question to Parliament. Not one peep.
The Legion didn’t drop the ball — they were never even on the field.
VAC openly confirms it will use automation for disability decisions tied to:
They admit:
VAC admits:
“Will information be used within a closed system?” — No
Protected C includes:
This is not acceptable.
The Path Forward
This isn’t about stopping technology. AI can help, when built ethically, transparently, and with the right guardrails.
But veterans deserve to know:
And they deserve organizations that are paying attention.
The Hard Truth
I didn’t find this because of access. I didn’t find it because of privilege. I found it because I looked.
Because someone had to.
And that’s the part that hurts the most.
The people who were supposed to be watching... weren’t. When yelled at to look by veterans.. they heard them and decided to signal the government they are there as partners for the government, not US. Not veterans and our families. They broke faith.
Heck, it's a WHOLE other article/rant, but based on everything I can find around Canadian government policy for governance best practices in deployment of AI, I don't think the government is even paying attention.
Veterans deserve a shield. Not a shrug.
Thanks for caring enough to look into this, and raise the alarm.