Veterans Affairs Committee on March 26th, 2013

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

Your question is on the clinical studies.

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

Yes, I assume that—

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

On the clinical studies, I'm sorry; I went quickly over that one. If there is research being done, I am suggesting a way of pursuing that.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

Thank you, Dr. Morisset.

We're going to move to the next one, because we have to allow him his conclusion. I'll move on to Mr. Lizon.

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

Please make it no more than four minutes.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

Yes, sir, and we'll move on to Mr. Lizon.

You have one question, Mr. Lizon.

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Thank you very much.

Is it one question?

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

Yes, because we're moving into his time. We have to go on to committee business as well.

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Thank you, Dr. Morisset, for coming here. You said you were surprised you were coming back. Actually I was going to propose, without asking anybody, that you come back. It is very important for you to clarify some of the testimony and some of the opinions we have heard from different witnesses. It is very important. Therefore, if I have only one question, I'll ask you this one, which is very direct. Don't take it personally.

Would you say that you purposely neglected to include documents or any particular research because of the findings?

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

Remember when you were in high school and did experiments? If you cooked reports, in high school or maybe at university, and you had been caught doing that, what would have happened?

No, we didn't, absolutely not, and I resent any such implication. We applied ourselves. I certainly did, and we have some individuals who are extremely rigorous. I'm telling you they were rigorous, university professors in epidemiology and other subjects, and they would never, ever have allowed us to even think about that. So the answer is no.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

The answer is very clear. It is no.

We'll allow you a couple of minutes to lay out your four points. Are they documented for the committee, or are you just going to say them?

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

I'm going to read them because I just wrote them yesterday.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

Go ahead, sir, very quickly.

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

If you wish, we can discuss that after.

Recommendation number one is that the committee members read the Institute of Medicine report on chronic multi-system illness published in January 2013, or at least a summary. It will be very instructive for you to read that.

Number two is that DND and Veterans Affairs Canada explore the possibility of creating a network of primary care physicians across the country who would be willing to accept veterans as patients. This cadre of physicians would include ex-military physicians.

Number three is that the findings of our report be communicated to the veterans in the most appropriate manner.

Number four is that you familiarize yourselves with the newly created DND and Veterans Affairs committee on research, known as CIMVHR, the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research, and support it in any way that you can. New research should be given appropriate funding.

I also mentioned that I had a favour to ask. In fact, I have two. I just thought of another one. People have been referring to this report as the Morisset report, or Dr. Morisset's report. I don't think that's right. We were a team of five. I was just one of them. Sure, the chairman gets more visibility, but I have to recognize that there were other members who did a lot of work, not that I'm trying to distance myself from the report or its notoriety, not at all. We're very proud of what we've done.

If you can hold back on the publicity—

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

To give you a reference on that, sir, when the Kirby report on health issues came out, he was the chair of that Senate committee and even though many people participated in it, it's still referred to it as the Kirby report.

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

Okay, fine. I get it. It's politically expedient.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

Yes, sir.

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

My other one is, there are some errors in my second testimony. Some are minor, but some are factually incorrect and they need to be corrected.

[The Vice-Chair, NDP, Peter Stoffer]

Go ahead.

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

I won't read them but I have sent them to you, Ms. Corbin.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Cynara Corbin]

I want to let the committee know that I did receive Dr. Morisset's changes to his testimony. I passed them on to the publications team. I'm not the one who decides whether there were any inaccuracies or factual errors. They listened to the audio recording again and did their verifying and research. They would be the ones to make the final decision.

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

It's under control or it's being looked after, is it?

[The Clerk]

Yes.

[Dr. Pierre Morisset]

Thank you.

The reason I bring it up is I read it again, and it had not been changed.

Thank you very much for that.

[The Clerk]

I'll follow up again.