National Defence Committee on Feb. 25th, 2014

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

I have three quick questions, if I can get them in.

The occupations in the civilian world are very complicated. Someone in the military may not have knowledge of all of that. I met one young man who said he was turned down for an opportunity to get employment counselling. This was outside the forces. It surprised me, but let me let you answer.

What types of vocational counselling, occupational options, aptitude testing, or any number of things are there that would allow a soldier who would be leaving, for one reason or another, to find out what he or she might have an aptitude for, or be able transition into, or get training for? Where does that come in and what program do you have for that?

[Col Gerry Blais]

Through the military employment transition program, we have joined forces with Canada Company. On staff, they are bringing in a number of career coaches from the private sector—and already have—and any of our personnel who are leaving who want to take advantage of those services are more than welcome to do so. They will help guide them down the path.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Is that new?

[Col Gerry Blais]

It is relatively new, yes; I would say probably within the last six months or so.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I have another question for Colonel Mann. We talked about the availability of medical services. I note that the ombudsman was concerned about the families not getting any access to family doctors, particularly in remote communities. It's a problem for other people, but more so for military families because they're moving and they have to get on waiting lists and whatnot.

The ombudsman talked about developing incentives for medical practitioners to relocate to certain areas. I know that communities do that. I also note that, in praise of you, the CDS said that you were always looking for innovative ways to help families and family services. Have you been given access to money or a budget to provide these types of incentives to medical practitioners to have them be available in the areas where soldiers are on bases or to set up clinics?

I know that communities do it. They give you an office that you can operate out of. They provide certain incentives for you to be there as a medical practitioner. Do you have a budget for that? Is this something that you think should be part of the services that you are able to provide for families?

[Col Russell Mann]

It's a great question. The short answer is no, but we do have resources to facilitate access. We've partnered with the Ottawa MFRC over the last 14 to 16 months to launch a program called “Operation Family Doc”. Op Family Doc has been able to successfully connect about 1,000 families with doctors throughout the Ottawa region. As you can appreciate, it's a quite dispersed and very large population, and we don't have a lot of money to invest in the family resource centre in the Ottawa area because it's large, urban, and fairly stable.

But finding a doctor is quite complex. Through the MFRC and a pilot program we did with them, we're able to get doctors to say that they're willing to take families. The family resource centre added value in helping families navigate where to find those doctors who would take new patients. For us, it's a successful pilot. We're now trying to get the Ottawa family resource centre to help us adapt that model to rural populations, where we know there are a number of bases—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

There's a bigger need there, I would think.

[Col Russell Mann]

—and start to apply it to the rural population context.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I have one other question on family. We have people coming to us, obviously soldiers and direct family members, but there's also the case of a soldier who is of mature age, 20-plus, 21, 30, or 35.... A mother is still a mother, and we have mothers coming to us, and fathers. We've had fathers appear at this committee. They're concerned about the welfare, and usually the mental health welfare, of their son or daughter in uniform.

Is there a protocol for dealing with that? Obviously they are family and they have concerns, and they often have a greater knowledge than the individuals do themselves. How do we deal with that?

[Col Russell Mann]

Well, I think on the parents there may be a two-part answer, one from me and one from Colonel Blais.

From my point of view, parents are a population that is an extra challenge for us, because they aren't necessarily located where the member is or where the rest of the family is. However, the best advice I can offer is to call 1-800-866-4546. Call the family information line. They can help that parent navigate to get the information they need whether or not they're in the same city or the same vicinity.

They have access to programs like what is done from Gander in outreach all over greater Newfoundland to connect with parents who may or may not have their loved ones sitting in their basements or who may or may not have access to information about their loved one on training and deployment. The family information line can play a role in connecting the network of information and support for that parent who may not be near an MFRC and who may not be near a base.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you very much, Colonel.

Mr. Bezan....

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

I will be very brief. I see that you have limited the interventions. If I am not mistaken, there are two left. However, according to my calculations, there should be at least 10 minutes left in the committee's proceedings. I still have a few questions to ask and I think that my colleague has some also. Would it be possible for us to stay until 1:00 p.m. to use all of our time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Let's see where we are at the end of this round of questioning. Merci.

Mr. Bezan.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I understand that you probably want to ask some questions, as is the chair's prerogative.

I'll split my time with Ms. Gallant, but first I have a question.

We were talking about transitioning and about the training and education component of it, which Mr. Harris was talking about. What educational opportunities are there for members of the JPSU before they hit their three-year leave? Is it just certificate training, diploma training, or can they actually go for a university degree?

[Col Gerry Blais]

We are open to anything, to whatever the member finds. He sits down with people from SISIP financial services, and they look at what his vocational rehab plan is. Based on where the individual wants to be, the plan is put together. We assist them, perhaps through their vocational rehab plan. We also have education reimbursement plans in the armed forces, which can go up to degree certification.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Perfect.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Ms. Gallant.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Earlier in the study we had the Canadian adaptive snow-sports people here, the Canadian Association for Disabled Skiing. They host a clinic for injured soldiers and veterans annually for a week. This includes amputees and/or people suffering from PTSD.

They told us, though, that they have a difficulty in connecting with the people who can be best served by this week-long event. Earlier you yourselves mentioned how the different activities that take people away from their isolation and bring them into the community or to an activity help to lift them from where they are at. This includes the spouses. All of the financials get taken care of by the organization. They just had it a couple of weeks ago. It was a wonderful event. But it was under-subscribed.

What can you recommend this organization do in order to better connect with the people who would benefit from this program?

[Col Gerry Blais]

It is a very fair question. The short answer, and specific answer, is to deal with the Soldier On program that works within the JPSU construct, because we have a number of activities. Unfortunately, the activity to which you refer was scheduled at the same time that we were hosting a national ski camp on the west coast. The majority of the ill and injured were at the Soldier On camp that was on the west coast, so we didn't have quite as many who could have participated.

As well, the activity was organized outside the realm of our programs, without working with Soldier On. It's more difficult for them, then, to contact the soldiers. If they deal with our organization and contact Soldier On, we will help them organize their activity.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

The other aspect that was mentioned was that many of them are attached to the JPSU, and in order for them to participate they're required to use vacation time, which might not necessarily coincide with the week of the event.

Again, here we have a situation where they would really benefit from this activity, but because of the confines of when they're allowed to leave JPSU, they may not be able to participate.

[Col Gerry Blais]

I can answer that one specifically as well.

If it is for the ill and injured population, if an activity is organized with the Soldier On program, they don't have to take leave. It's part of their rehabilitation. If it is something organized by a civilian organization outside of Defence, without dealing with Soldier On, then it becomes a civilian pursuit and they have to take leave.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Murray.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Thank you.

I've got some questions for Colonel Blais.

The context of this, of course, is the some 13.2% of the total deployed to Afghanistan who were predicted to suffer from OSI or PTSD, according to the department's Report on Cumulative Incidence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Other Mental Disorders, a sample that took place of people deployed from 2001 to 2008.

With the JPSU, I'm going to just lay out a set of questions, if you don't mind.

How many forces members are currently posted to the JPSU? Do you have numbers for what you anticipate will come forward for posting over the coming three years? What are the number of service providers currently employed? I know that management, administration, and logistical support are also important, but I just want the number for service providers directly dealing with people being posted.

There were staffing shortages that we are aware of. In terms of those staffing shortages how many medical professionals have been hired since the hiring freeze was lifted last fall? Would you recommend increasing the number of service providers, given the estimate of need for the JPSU, if increased budget were available to you? In other words, is budget a constraint? I'm not just talking about medical, I'm talking about service providers.

Lastly, the fall report from the Auditor General of Canada recommended improvements to performance measuring and reporting by the JPSU and the IPSCs. Have you implemented that recommendation? If not yet, how do you plan to move forward and do that?

I'm trying to get a handle on what's going on with the JPSU.

[Col Gerry Blais]

Understood.

To your first question, at the moment we are just under 2,000 people posted to the JPSU, and we have roughly an additional 3,500 walk-in clients. That means that their daily administration and command is done by their own unit, but they come in. They may have an injury where they need some form of service or program, and we provide that for them.

How many people are going to be posted to the JPSU in the future? It's very hard to predict. What we know is that there are 1,000 people released medically per year. Based on that, a certain number of those can remain in their units because it's a chronic thing, such as back pain, where they don't need a posting to the JPSU. So how many are going to come to us? It's very difficult to pinpoint that trend, but it's constantly monitored. I have direct contact with the chief of personnel and if I do have needs I go straight to him to advise on what our needs are.

In terms of the number of service providers directly, the staff of the JPSU is about 300. But to give you a further breakdown I'll have to take it under advisement and come back with the specific numbers.