Evidence of meeting #7 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was services.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:55 p.m.
Director General of Health Professionals and National Medical Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
They come to us from several.... They can come to us directly from the CF, so doctor to doctor; and they can come to us from our case managers, who say, “We have a client here whom we think...”, etc., and they come to us directly.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Okay, but that case manager, that's a critical point, as you were saying.
12:55 p.m.
Director General of Health Professionals and National Medical Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
That's the first line.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
They're making this all happen.
I'm from Saskatchewan. That tells you a little bit.
12:55 p.m.
Director General of Health Professionals and National Medical Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
Go Riders.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Yes. Please go, Riders, go.
The difference between, as you say, your barriers, the physical space, you need more clinics.... We need more mental health clinics. Then we're also talking about the need for two centres of excellence, which are a different animal again, correct?
12:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
Yes.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Which one should be the priority?
If we have x number of dollars to spend, where are we going to help the majority of our vets?
12:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
On the centres of excellence, the mandate letter of the minister mentioned two, right?
12:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
One of them was mental health/PTSD. I'll let Dr. Courchesne talk about this, because we think we are very close to having that.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
In addition to that, as you answer that question, I would like to know where they are. In relation to where the others are located, would it not be good to have one, say, out west?
12:55 p.m.
Director General of Health Professionals and National Medical Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
We have one out west.
12:55 p.m.
Director General of Health Professionals and National Medical Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
We have them in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.
I like Saskatchewan. My partner is from Humboldt, Saskatchewan. I know Saskatchewan.
When the clinics were established, they were established where there are big bases such as Valcartier and Edmonton. We collocated close to the forces clinics so that we could catch the people coming out. That was the premise at the time. There's also Moose Jaw, which is a training base, with fairly young people there, young people who want to be fighter pilots and all that, but there wasn't that critical mass, so it's not because we don't like Saskatchewan or that they were overlooked. I think it was critical mass that dictated it at the time.
Now in our research, we look at where are the veterans and where is the need. I don't want to leave you with the impression that I wanted more mental health clinics. I think, except for Saskatchewan, which we'll take under consideration—
12:55 p.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
12:55 p.m.
Director General of Health Professionals and National Medical Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
But where we are, we need to expand there, because they already have critical mass there and expertise, and they're well under way. That was my...it was about expanding the clinics in size, not in numbers.
12:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
I want to emphasize that the services are available. We're opening an office. There will be two, one in Regina and one in Saskatoon. But whether we open an OSI clinic in Saskatchewan or not, I want to emphasize that the services are available. Mental health services from our OSI clinics are available in Saskatchewan. I really want to emphasize that.
I believe that during one of my previous appearances here, you raised the issue of a psychiatrist or psychologist in Saskatchewan, or the lack of—
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
12:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
We take it very seriously, extremely seriously, to ensure that it doesn't matter where the veteran resides: the services are available whether they come from Edmonton, Calgary, or somewhere else.
But I've been given the finger, or the hand, so—
12:55 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
12:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Service Delivery Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs
I apologize.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
12:55 p.m.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Recommendation 6 from the Auditor General talked about outreach to family in order to ensure that there was that support system. We know that good mental health is best achieved when there is a supportive family.
You agreed to a pilot project to provide veteran families with access through the military family resource centres. I wonder what impact that pilot project could have. How far along are you in making that a reality?
