My presentation today is entitled “Strength through Partnership.”
I'm Colleen Calvert, director of the military family resource centre in Halifax and region. We have the largest family resource centre in Canada, serving most of Nova Scotia except the South Shore and valley. It's an incredible honour to work with these families.
Military families are the strength behind the uniform. The military family resource centres believe all military families are strong, independent, resilient, and resourceful. They cope with many unique and challenging circumstances, not least of which are the challenges that come with long deployments and postings. These challenges are then exacerbated by the fact that they are usually far away from their normal supports--family, community, and friends.
The Canadian Forces has been visionary, and it has been on the cutting edge of family support. Many of our NATO allies are many years behind and have used Canada as a model to develop their family support programs. What makes Canada's program so successful and so different is that it is by the families, for the families. We exist because military families advocated for family support when they increasingly found the chain of command unresponsive to their account of what kinds of supports they needed.
Families have repeatedly said, “The military has control over everything else, but they're not controlling us”—referring to the military presuming to know better than the families themselves just what these needs were.
As leaders in military family services, military family resource centres have embraced the value and significant role that families play in the welfare and well-being of Canadian Forces members. Recognizing their importance, I believe it is time for all of the Department of National Defence and others to join in a full partnership to provide the member and their family with firsthand information and an extensive array of professional services, programs, and resources that address the social, physical, and emotional needs of military families.
I'm just going to tell you a little bit about the strengths of military family resource centres.
Military family resource centres respond quickly and are agile and able to adapt creatively to all situations. We can be much more agile than the military because we have no bureaucracy. MFRCs have roots in the community. In a changing military, we're the ones who represent continuity in that community.
MFRCs respond to family issues outside the chain of command, which allows the chain of command to focus on operational tasks. We're very effective in helping families support operational readiness. Many COs have reported fewer family-related repatriations during deployments, less stress on family members, reduced financial costs, improved morale, and reduced stress on the family when there has been an engagement with a military family resource centre.
MFRCs have established trusting relationships with the families and members. We're a safe place where families can access programs, services, and resources without having fear of a negative impact on the member's career. We are a trusted and effective first point of contact for our families. MFRCs are professional, independent organizations with professional staff and volunteers whose passion is to support families in a way that meets their actual needs, not the perception of needs. We are a vital and valuable resource to the Canadian Forces and to the chain of command.
MFRCs know and understand the challenges as they relate to the community in which they live and to the unique CF challenges. We are a conduit between the military and the community, family, schools, and others.
One of the challenges we've faced is around communications and relationships. One of our goals is to ensure that families are informed, supported, and connected. MFRCs across Canada unfortunately experience some communication and information-sharing challenges. Some bases and units are very good at engaging and providing support and information to their family resource centre, but many MFRCs continue to have challenges.
Despite directives being written to provide family contact, posting, and deployment-related information to family resource centres, there is reluctance still at some CF units to communicate, to share vital family contact information, or to engage the family resource centres. If MFRCs are not aware of who is posted or who is experiencing deployment or work-related absences, we cannot provide services to their families. If MFRCs are not provided this most basic of information, families may receive no support, services, or information, which impacts the family as well as the military unit. It is vital that MFRCs consistently receive current and accurate family contact information on all members posted or deployed from their base wing or unit.
One of the other challenges that families face today is one of day care and child care. The needs of Canadian Forces families are not being met. When a CF family is posted to a new city, base, or unit, they usually have 90 days to buy a home, sell their home, change schools, move to a new province, and then secure day care.
Waiting lists for many full-time day cares range between six months and two years. This does not meet the needs of the Canadian Forces family upon posting. Many cannot find or secure adequate full-time day care. This then may impact their ability to work and adversely impact the Canadian Forces.
Currently, in Halifax alone, I have 400 military families on the waiting list, and posting season hasn't even started. It should be noted that family resource centres are not responsible for providing child care, nor are they funded to provide child care. Many MFRCs across Canada have taken on this role voluntarily to meet the high demand of Canadian Forces and their families.
Based upon feedback, lack of adequate child care spaces is a significant frustration for families. In the larger scope, this dissatisfaction likely equates to a reduction in retention and possibly recruitment rates in the military. While there are initiatives in place at the quality of life department to study the national day care crisis for DND families, resolution may take many years. The best short-term solution is for the Canadian Forces to take ownership of this issue and provide additional child care spaces for our Canadian Forces families. MFRCs must take on the mandate of child care. Given the unique needs of the CF family, the need for adequate child care facilities, I believe, should be a top priority.
In addition to some of the other challenges you'll hear from my colleagues, I want to hit on one other. Military families, upon being posted to a different city or province, have experienced real challenges trying to find a general practitioner for their families and for themselves. Some have even had to enter lotteries held by general practitioners in their new community. Canadian Forces families should not have to be left without a family doctor because the Canadian Forces member is posted. The additional stress and anxiety this may cause a family is, I believe, unacceptable.
It's important that we, as military family resource centres in the Department of National Defence, reaffirm our family support roots, which are based upon the needs of the family, not necessarily the needs of the Canadian Forces. Knowing the challenges and needs of the family and CF, MFRCs are proven effective and internationally recognized professionals who are passionate about ensuring that families are equipped with all the tools necessary to deal with the unique challenges of the military lifestyle.
It is absolutely vital that our families are seen as and are treated as full partners with the Canadian Forces and that they receive the best services and resources our nation can offer them. Keeping families connected, informed, and supported does result in better relations, trust, and improved morale that has and will continue to pay dividends to the Canadian Forces and to Canada.