National Defence committee  To assist the committee, I want to throw this back to the chair here. What are we talking about, mental health or physical ailments?

National Defence committee  One of the six areas is mental health. We did discuss a number of issues around what we could do to help. If we had the time, we could lay out the many things that have been done. We did talk about doing more training. We have an OSISS peer support network in place. You are right, it is focused on the back end coming home, not the front end, the prevention piece.

National Defence committee  Not just on the mental health piece. Both General Jaeger and I can tell you.... I was just at Walter Reed last week. General Jaeger has been to many more places than I have. She is very connected with her counterparts on this whole issue. So the short answer is yes, in many, many ways to ensure that we don't have to reinvent the wheel, we pick best practices.

National Defence committee  I'll kick off and then turn it over to General Jaeger, and she'll talk about the constructive framework. Immediately on hearing that, the department provided moneys to the province, to a local care provider, to assist the case in Petawawa you're talking about, a couple of hundred thousand dollars to help them out.

National Defence committee  No.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair, could I read the definition, please? The non-battle injuries include those injured as a result of traffic accidents, the accidental discharge of a weapon, any other accidental injuries not related to combat. It also includes those members reported ill, repatriated for compassionate reasons and repatriated for medical reasons.

National Defence committee  No, it's not an injury then. If he died, he fell. Then it would be a death. There's another column that shows death due to battle and death outside of battle. There are cases, as you know, in which a soldier has died in a traffic accident. That would be down as a non-battle death, which I think is being very unfair.

National Defence committee  I brought it all here for you today.

National Defence committee  I can respond to that. It's a great question. We had the conference over the last few days at the Ottawa Congress Centre, and 450 individuals came from all provinces across Canada. The injured, their families, care providers, and individuals in the chain of command all sat down over those two days and looked at themes.

National Defence committee  Yes, there will. We actually promised all of the participants that we would prepare a report for them of the results of the areas they would like to see. To be very clear here, I would tell you we were not surprised in any way with what we heard. I know we don't have the time here today, but I could very quickly tell you what those five or six areas are that we need to stay focused on within what we both do to ensure that our men and women in uniform get the support they need.

National Defence committee  I have to look at that right now. There was no press allowed in so that people could speak openly on both sides. I'll have to look at that. Again, I could tell you the results here today, but clearly you are not going to see details of an individual saying, here is what happened to me.

National Defence committee  There were 395 non-battle injuries, which happen, because, remember, we still.... For instance, when I was in Afghanistan, I went to the gym every day to work out. But if suddenly there was a problem and I injure myself. It's still an injury, which is recorded. At the end of the day, I have to provide that support to that individual as much as I do to the individual who is injured in combat.

National Defence committee  I would like to add something important to this discussion, Mr. Chairman. Remember, throughout the year each department asks for additional money as part of its annual allocation. So in the Department of National Defence, I do go back to the department, clearly, and say, “Could you provide me with additional money, because General Jaeger needs that?”

National Defence committee  It is in the chart. As I said, it is broken down by non-battle injuries. So, you are correct. If I fell off my chair and got injured and had to be sent home, I'm included in that 749. Conversely, there are injuries sustained in battle. So it goes from one extreme all the way to the other extreme, which is why I come back and say that it's important to look at all the categories, to get an accurate reflection of what actually happened.

National Defence committee  Thanks a lot, Hilary. I know that question has been posed here. Clearly, to balance those two very much competing interests, the need of the public to know and the need for military security, we can tell you that the Canadian Forces policy on the release of the wounded in action statistics was changed in mid-October 2007—