Veterans Affairs committee  My role within the Canadian Forces is as Director of Casualty Support Management. So I am responsible for all the programs and services provide by the Canadian Forces that are not health care services as such. I am also the commander of the new casualty support units that have b

Veterans Affairs committee  I think we've come a long way in one specific area. In the last year you've heard through the media, and I believe in the House, about the stand-up of the joint personnel support unit, through which, across the country, we now have centres at all the military locations—19 now, wi

Veterans Affairs committee  No, not necessarily. Especially with the advent of these new units, we are aware of the folks before they leave, so there's already a relationship there. So if there's anything they require help with, we're there to help them get it. For example, both their medical and personal f

Veterans Affairs committee  We'd be happy to help them.

Veterans Affairs committee  That program is called the operational stress injury social support program, or OSISS, for short. We have a network for the military person and another one for their family. So either the individual comes forward and asks for help, or, if we hear through the grapevine that someon

Veterans Affairs committee  Approximately $80,000.

Veterans Affairs committee  If I could perhaps clarify, when the program was set up approximately five years ago, it was a joint effort with Veterans Affairs and DND. As we've moved forward, the realization is that the care after release is not a National Defence responsibility; it is a Veterans Affairs res

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. What are the Veterans Affairs forms and the Veterans Affairs benefits now that we have the joint personnel support unit and the integrated personnel support centres? As I said, six months prior to their release they're in contact with Veterans Affairs, within the unit, and w

Veterans Affairs committee  Again, the stand-up of the joint personnel support unit only started in March of last year with the first nine units, so I can't give you any statistics that are relevant as of yet, but we do actively ensure that we have, for example, the transition assistance program, where we p

Veterans Affairs committee  There's no doubt that those with mental health illnesses are more difficult to place in employment than those with physical injuries. It's a question of finding the right job. Of course, depending on what the trigger is for your mental health or your operational stress injury, th

Veterans Affairs committee  The two departments don't function in exactly the same manner. Veterans Affairs, on the management side, is much more centralized in Charlottetown, whereas DND has a much more decentralized approach, but the two departments are working together. A lot of improvement has happened

Veterans Affairs committee  I just wanted to add... It seems to me that your question deals with benefits for veterans, but that is not our responsibility. We are not in a position to answer those questions: Mr. Bouchard looks after the SISIP. Benefits for veterans, applications and the review process do no

Veterans Affairs committee  It's never easy. A young man's or woman's life has been changed forever; therefore your perspective is certainly not what it was before you left for your theatre of operations or before you had your accident. That being said, all of them still definitely have the courage they had

Veterans Affairs committee  I think we're building on that through, again, the stand-up of the joint personnel support unit. Now that Veterans Affairs is in the same building with us and we're looking at the files at the same time, we're able to get things processed more quickly. Again, nine of them have b

Veterans Affairs committee  We've already seen the difference in those we have established; we're monitoring success stories. There's a comprehensive performance measurement framework, and we are seeing the results already.