Good evening, Mr. Chair
Good evening also to the vice-chairs of the committee, to the members of Parliament, and to all invited guests.
I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that the Fondation Le Balancier, which I founded, is active in the greater Quebec City area, on the traditional territory of the great Huron-Wendat Nation of Wendake. The region is recognized as an important meeting place for other First Nations, including the Innu. Le Balancier aims to be a welcoming and inclusive place.
Two corrections need to be made in the brief I submitted to you. My staff noticed the errors after sending it. I will therefore send a new version to the clerk.
My name is Guy Riel and I am a veteran. I took part in a mission to Cyprus and two missions to Bosnia in 1993 and 1995. My assessment from Veterans Affairs Canada is that I am at 175%, given my physical and mental health and neurodegenerative disease from my military service.
We set up the Fondation Le Balancier in response to a request from some of my sponsors in the system who felt that front line services were lacking in Quebec. We worked with existing partners to develop a support network for veterans. We also created a webcast to disseminate information from the department to the veteran community. We obtained funding four days ago for the English program, which is called Some Vets at Night. In French, it's Deux vets le soir.
The Foundation focuses on the quality of its members. There are about 100 of us professionals working together. We are all veterans of the RCMP or the military. Our mission is to reshape the image of the labour market, the image of the veteran community and the image that civilians have of veterans.
In fact, 48% of Canadian veterans feel underestimated by the Canadian public. I have experienced this myself. Often our skills are not recognized because they are so out of the ordinary. So I am really glad to hear that some managers are trying to work on these issues.
I worked in the federal public service, including for the Treasury Board, where I implemented the parking policy. I had the opportunity to put my skills to good use and to excel. That is also what I wanted to do with The Pendulum Foundation.
I have been around for a while. I made my first career transition in the 1990s, and then another in the 2000s, and I have seen a huge improvement in services. As Canadian veterans, we have excellent services. My community has no reason to complain. There are issues, but they can be foreseen and corrected.
The transition to civilian life is when military members lose their sense of purpose, and that is where The Pendulum Foundation can help.
We signed an agreement with three research chairs, in the areas of chronic pain, mental health and cannabis. We have a human resources researcher working within that organization trying to understand the psychological and physical issues associated with wanting to move on to a new career.
The discourse needs to change. In our community, there is not enough emphasis on the merits of working and re-engaging. The Pendulum works a lot on this aspect.
Thank you. I am ready to answer all your questions.