Evidence of meeting #171 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was military.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Gregory Lick  Interim Ombudsman, National Defence and Canadian Forces Ombudsman
Craig L. Dalton  Veterans Ombudsman, Office of the Veterans Ombudsman
Carole Lajoie  Director of Education and Collaboration, National Defence and Canadian Forces Ombudsman
Luc Généreux  As an Individual
Robert Hicks  As an Individual
Robert Northey  Audit Officer, Office of the Assistant Deputy Minister, Review Services, As an Individual
Fraser Zerebecki  As an Individual

5:20 p.m.

As an Individual

Robert Hicks

No. I have never even heard of it. I released, my second time, in 2012, so most of this is brand new.

The thing that I will say is, again, bet on us. Bet on every single one of us, because odds are you're going to come up as a winner. Whoever the hiring manager is or whoever the HR person is, they would need direction to look at us. Again, I've been washed out for the difference between crisis and emergency. There are other funnier stories out there. They're synonyms, but....

The other thing I said—and I think it would be an easy way to go for it—to make it easy for hiring managers is to bring us on as consultants. Say to us, “Look, we're going to hire you as a temporary, as a try-before-you-buy, so you get a year, and if after a year you're still producing, we're giving you a second year.” If after the second year they still want to keep you, they have that year to make you permanent. I think every single one of us is willing to say, “All right, we'll earn our keep.” We'll earn our daily salt if we know there's a pathway to actually getting in and making the most of it.

I don't know if that answers your question—

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON

Yes.

5:25 p.m.

As an Individual

Robert Hicks

—but I think that's the way to go.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski

You can go for one minute.

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

Kyle Peterson Liberal Newmarket—Aurora, ON

Perfect. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, gentlemen, and all of you, for your service and for being here today.

I wanted to get everyone's opinion briefly, if I could. What do you think is the benefit or the value of having almost a concierge system through either CAF or through Veterans Affairs to help you with this process? There's no inherent knowledge that anyone would be born with to be able to navigate this process, so what services should we provide to help you get through it?

5:25 p.m.

As an Individual

Fraser Zerebecki

I've given this some thought, and right now that won't work, just because the system is so convoluted that you can't have one person who knows how to navigate the whole system. It would help, but it's not enough right now.

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

Kyle Peterson Liberal Newmarket—Aurora, ON

Okay.

Is there anyone else?

5:25 p.m.

As an Individual

Luc Généreux

We currently have a system made up of systems. If we had the help of a consultant or an expert, we could better navigate through all this and it would be a major step forward in improving the system. It may not solve all the problems, but it would help us to better manage our frustrations. We would receive tips and advice on how to navigate this minefield.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski

Thank you very much.

5:25 p.m.

Liberal

Kyle Peterson Liberal Newmarket—Aurora, ON

Thank you.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski

Colleagues, that will end our direct interventions.

Let me say in closing that I want to thank each and every one of you for being here today. I'll choose my words carefully when I say that your testimony has been not only informative but also, in many cases, eye-opening, and to underscore what Mr. Boissonnault and Mr. McCauley said, at times, troubling.

If you have any other suggestions or recommendations that you feel our committee should consider as we continue our report, I would recommend strongly that you get those in to our clerk. Believe me, all of your testimony will help form part of our final report.

Once again, thank you for your service to your country. Thank you for your testimony here today.

Colleagues, we are adjourned.