Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 7th, 2012

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Is the VAC official who co-chairs with you Mr. Hillier?

[RAdm Andrew Smith]

It is Mr. Hillier.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

You have time for one more question.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

That's it. I'm done. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Mr. Harris, I believe, is next.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Gentlemen, I'm new to this committee, and I feel honoured today to be in the presence of folks like you, who lead our armed forces. I want to tell you that I share the appreciation my colleagues have for the military and its leadership, such as you. Thank you for attending. It's a privilege to be able to ask you some questions about how you operate the military.

I really appreciated hearing your explanations.

I had a couple of questions. I know that these programs are well designed and well thought out before they're put into force. What type of oversight do you currently have to gauge the success of the programs on an ongoing basis, or semi-annually--whichever is the mark?

[RAdm Andrew Smith]

The joint personnel support unit, which we stood up in 2009, is commanded by Colonel Blais, to my right. It has a series of performance measures that we continue to develop, implement, track, and monitor to gauge the effectiveness and efficiency of the various support services provided by the IPSCs. The IPSCs are really for one-stop shopping. They can provide assisted financial services, adaptive fitness, and so on. Veterans Affairs Canada staff are embedded in each one of those sites. All of the various services available are monitored on a regular basis to determine if we are meeting the needs and are doing so in an efficient manner.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Thank you.

How are you doing? What's the satisfaction level of the program currently?

Second, how flexible are you to change the programs, either operationally or even completely, to ensure that the program delivers the high-level assistance that was the original goal?

[RAdm Andrew Smith]

With respect to how we're doing, the trend in terms of clients has risen steadily since we introduced the IPSC in 2009, and it has been reassuring to know that people feel comfortable enough to come forward to seek the assistance they need, whether they be ill or injured. In some regions or at some sites across the country, the demand can be quite staggering. I would cite that as an indication that we are well known and are a credible source of help.

With respect to the flexibility to change things, I would say that one of the things that distinguishes the Canadian Forces is that we are a learning institution, and it's all about continuous improvement. If we need to change and amend things, we do that on a regular basis, and if Colonel Blais, who runs the JPSU, needs to tweak programs, we do that on a regular basis.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

That's good to hear. I know that sometimes parts of our government can get bogged down in red tape, and it's a real job to make any real-time changes. I was already assuming that the military would be different.

[RAdm Andrew Smith]

Inside the military, we call that mission command. We give individuals the task, the resources to get on with the task at hand, and then the flexibility to implement that and manoeuvre to meet the goal. That's an inherent part of military leadership.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

That's great. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you.

We're moving right along here. Next is Mr. Hyer.

[Bruce Hyer, NDP, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Thanks very much.

Rear-Admiral, I have one question. I'm the MP for Thunder Bay. We have several reserve units in Thunder Bay, and “reserve” does not mean they're inactive; on the contrary, we've had fatalities and woundings of reservists serving in peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, so it's a large and important part of our town.

My question is this: how do the transition to civilian life and the various benefits you've started to outline, which we'll hear more about later, differ, if at all, between regular Canadian Forces personnel and reservists? Are there differences? If so, what are they?

[RAdm Andrew Smith]

As you'll recall from my opening comments, the transition services largely apply equally to regular force members and full-time reservists. I'll ask Colonel Blais to go into greater detail, but part-time reservists do have a different construct.

[Col Gerry Blais]

Full-time reservists are afforded the same services as regular force members. The Class A reservists—that's the name we use—parade on a Thursday night or once a month and spend a weekend with their units; if they are injured as a result of their military service, they get the same services as somebody in the regular force. However, if they're injured while working at their civilian employment, playing basketball in their driveway, or whatever the case may be, then unfortunately the services are much more limited. We'll provide them all the support we can, but there is no real financial commitment associated with that type of injury.

[Bruce Hyer, NDP, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Thank you very much.

My compatriots may want to share my time. I had one question, and that was it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

We've got another three minutes on that side. We're going too fast today.

[Réjean Genest, NDP, Shefford, QC]

I am pleased to meet with the representatives of our three armed forces, that is our military, our navy and our air force.

As you know the government is making budget cuts. First they said 5% and now they are saying 10%. Will the services that you offer, that is transition services or help seeking employment after a military career, be affected? Have you thought of ways to be as effective and continue to offer these services despite these budget cuts? What is certain is that if there are cutbacks, you will also be affected.

[RAdm Andrew Smith]

Mr. Chairman, I would simply like to say that so far, no decision has been announced by the government. I will leave it at that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you.

Ms. Mathyssen, you have time for one question.

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Colonel, in your brief you talked about 300 employers being registered with the transition assistance program. I was quite taken with that, and I wondered who they are. Do you know? I know they're both public and private sector. What kinds of jobs are they offering to ex-forces personnel?

[Col Gerry Blais]

They are extremely varied. For example, on the public side, there are a number of departments. There is also the Corps of Commissionaires and similar services.

On the private sector side, it's extremely varied. There can be small local electrical firms, for example, and the major banks are registered, including TD, Royal Bank, and Bank of Montreal. It runs the gamut.

The type of employment is varied. There are some management positions, and it goes down as low as entry-level positions. The variety is very wide.

[RAdm Andrew Smith]

To that I would add some of the ongoing work we're doing with corporate Canada, as I have come to appreciate. The cartage and moving companies, some of the big food warehouse distribution companies, and the financial and the banking industry have foreseen a significant manpower shortage, so they are looking for people who don't necessarily have to have expertise in the banking industry or in a cartage firm. They're looking for skills that almost all people in uniform above the rank of corporal will have, such as leadership skills, organizational skills, and an ability to communicate. They're more than happy to train these people in the specifics of warehouse distribution or cartage or some of the financial aspects in a financial institution. They're looking for the leadership skills that these injured or transitioning people have. That's what they are missing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Greg Kerr]

Thank you very much, Admiral.

We'll now go to Ms. Adams for five minutes.