National Defence Committee on Nov. 27th, 2006

[Cmdre M. F. Kavanagh]

The one our soldiers have accessed is in Landstuhl, Germany, but they have them on many of their large army bases, large navy bases, air force bases, and their Veterans Affairs Canada administration. Basically it depends on the size of the location where they have them. I saw a map of them plotted all over the place. There are 24, but the one we've used most is in Landstuhl, Germany.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Resource centres are available for the family members of those in the military. I imagine there is one such centre in Valcartier.

There are currently almost 2,500 soldiers preparing to go on mission. Do you have activities planned to help families prepare for a long separation? Do you have a program accessible to everybody or do you tend to work with families on an individual basis?

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

I imagine that activities are organized. We also have a system called the rear party. All groups on rotation have a rear party—a group of soldiers who remain on the base and who are responsible for liaising with the families.

On-base programs for families are the responsibility of the family resource centre and the chain of command. They are not our responsibility.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Are these services offered as part of your services?

[Cmdre M. F. Kavanagh]

No, not directly.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Okay, I understand—your responsibilities are more in the area of auxiliary health care services.

Do you have specific measures or programs in place to address addiction—perhaps this is something you have already mentioned—and, secondly, do you struggle to reduce or eliminate addiction problems in the armed forces?

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

Are you asking a general question or are you referring specifically to the testing that we carried out recently?

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

I want to know what the situation is like in general.

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

We have a comprehensive addiction program. Previously, we almost solely relied on a 28-day treatment. People were hospitalized and went cold turkey for 28 days. Nowadays, we have a more personalized approach.

It's more personalized, with more hierarchical, lower-level educative interventions and steps before we resort to a 28-day in-patient program for addictions treatment. All of the bases have addictions counsellors.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Do you carry out testing? How do you detect addiction problems?

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

It depends. The questionnaire I referred to a little earlier includes questions on addiction; however, it could also be that people are sent to us following an incident such as, for example, drunk driving. The chain of command sends them to us to be—

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Do you run testing or prevention programs for the regular troops, when they are not preparing to go on a mission?

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

I am not quite sure that I understood your question.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

I was just wondering whether you run general testing and prevention programs, other than those related to preparing a mission.

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

Related to missions—

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

It could well be that there are none. You would know better than I would.

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

We educate members at a variety of points. Every unit is supposed to give its members a drug and alcohol prevention lecture annually....

General Cox is rolling his eyes; he's probably sat through way too many of those in his career.

There has been an ongoing sensitization and educational component. I think there's been a certain amount of success in that regard, because the messes are all dying and the base gyms are full. Mess life in the Canadian Forces is much more quiet than it used to be, and non-public funds illustrate that.

So we have made some headway, to the point where our levels of substance abuse are roughly the same as those for the civilian component of Canada.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Just before we move on, one question.

When we were talking to the spouses in CFB Edmonton, there was a comment that most of their returning partners came back with high blood pressure. Is that a common thing?

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

That's actually the first I've heard of it. I'll go back and ask Edmonton why they might have seen this. I can't think of any good physiological reason why that would be.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

This was a comment that came from more than one of the wives. I thought it was an issue you'd be aware of.

Okay, the official opposition passes, the government checks, and now to the New Democratic Party.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

It must be near Christmas.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Is potable water a serious ongoing issue? If so, could you describe some of the challenges you're facing and how you're overcoming them?

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

I'll have to get back to you on the details, but it is a serious issue everywhere we go, on every mission. There's a huge priority placed on potable water. You can't do anything operationally without it.

For instance, Afghanistan's climate is very dry in the summer, very hot, and people are carrying a lot of equipment. If you're not well hydrated, you're going to end up in difficulty very soon. If your water is not safe, that will manifest itself as well.

As to exactly what steps we've taken in Afghanistan, whether we're using our own reverse osmosis systems or relying on imported bottled water, I couldn't actually tell you that, sir.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

It hasn't been a debilitating issue so far.

[BGen Hilary Jaeger]

It has not caused us casualties.