National Defence committee  I think right now what happens is there are agreements that exist between different organizations within the community. There are warm hand-offs, as they are called. If someone walks through a single door, they are treated as though they are not walking through the wrong door, an

National Defence committee  The discussion has to take place. I think at a very minimum the discussion needs to take place so that we can understand, again, whether or not population need is being met with the resources we have or we might learn we don't have. I'm simply unaware of whether or not that type

National Defence committee  I think we can do better. The Surgeon General recognizes that there are mental health, physical health, and psycho-social dimensions to the mental health problems or illnesses that members of the forces face as well as their families. I think the strategy also recognizes very cle

National Defence committee  It needs to be detailed.

National Defence committee  It's to take those words that say family supports are important, recovery to the individual who we're concerned about is important, and actually articulate more formally. I saw that part of the next steps this strategy articulates is to formalize, for example, a suicide preventio

National Defence committee  This may be simply my own personal conversations with Statistics Canada or someone else, but the reality is—and the mental health strategy actually points this out—there are wait times associated with mental health services for all of Canadians, and we know that from surveys that

National Defence committee  Any good health program based on guidelines published by the World Health Organization would suggest that you need to start a population need first and then determine what types of resources you need in order to meet that population need. I don't know immediately; I can't say w

National Defence committee  That's correct. We just have not read the evaluation reports that we know are planned for and that have been done, but we know they have been planned for and have been done. So I can only assume they're telling the forces something with regard to the types of services they need t

National Defence committee  Well, the theory, as well as what we saw maybe 10 or so years ago when we were first involved and what we're seeing now.... There's a world of difference in terms of things being structured in a way that's more person-centred.

National Defence committee  Yes and no. The department already works with people from Statistics Canada. They take part in program evaluation and they conduct one-off projects for the department. So, as I understand it, there is already a relationship between the department and Statistics Canada. That sai

National Defence committee  I do not know whether there is funding or not. I just know that the strategy talks about family support and the importance of family in a soldier's rehabilitation. It also says that appropriate services for family members have to be found in the community. That is all. At that po

National Defence committee  Very briefly, yes. We have psychiatrists who work with us, and psychologists and social workers who work in CMHA's.... The goal is not to think about it from a provider perspective; the idea is to think about it from a person-centred perspective.

National Defence committee  That is a very good question. Our health system is definitely organized around urgent care. A good report published by Health Canada 40 years ago now said that we have to make a greater investment into prevention and health promotion. Some provinces have done that. At times, the

National Defence committee  In mental health, unfortunately, economic analysis arrived on the scene very late. In the last three decades, there has been some economic analysis in other areas of health, but our area is lagging behind, both in Canada and around the world. At the start of this year, the Mental

National Defence committee  First of all, I must tell you that I am not a health care professional. My association is not aware of problems with diagnosis, and neither am I. That said, diagnosing some mental illnesses is still not an exact science. My suggestion to you is to put that question to psychiatris