Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My first question is for Colonel Bernier.
I'm interested in your comment with respect to the profound difficulty you're having in the transition of CF members to civilian life and access to family physicians.
We've heard at least a couple of times in this committee—once was that fateful meeting on February 27 in Halifax with Dr. Heather MacKinnon, but we also heard from Dr. Alice Aitken. As you may know, she is the director of the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research. She appeared before the committee on February 14. This is a quote from Dr. Aitken, someone who is an expert in the field:
My biggest challenge was in the transition to provincial health care, where I got the same treatment as a prisoner, and I was informed of that. When my husband transitioned out later, he was medically released and had served in both Bosnia and Afghanistan. The impact on our family was mitigated by the fact that we had both been military and knew what to do.
But I think his biggest struggle was in transitioning to a civilian health care system that didn't understand his needs.... Also his front-line service provided by Veterans Affairs…is sometimes a very difficult bureaucracy for the veteran to deal with.
This is from someone who is ex-military and who is now engaged full time in military and veterans health research; this is her personal experience.
I appreciate that it's difficult because of what's happening in provincial health care systems. Tell me what you think of this suggestion and whether it's workable or what we need to do to make it work. What about having a member of the forces obligating the medical caregivers looking after that person to continue his or her care until there is a successful transition or until there is a civilian doctor willing to accept that person as a patient? I realize that increases the workload on those within the employ of DND, but it seems to me that the workload is a worthwhile priority for us to invest in, even if we need to get more.
What are your thoughts?