Evidence of meeting #22 for National Defence in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was families.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:20 p.m.
Colleen Calvert Executive Director, Military Family Resource Centre, Halifax and Region
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.
4:30 p.m.
Beth Corey Executive Director, Gagetown Military Family Resource Centre
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you very much for the invitation to be here today. Listening to my colleagues, I'm inspired by the program I'm involved in.
My name is Beth Corey. I'm executive director of the Gagetown military family resource centre located at CFB Gagetown, in a nice little place called Oromocto, New Brunswick.
I've been the executive director for over seven years. I have an extensive background in community development, working with boards of directors and not-for-profit agencies. My particular passion is family support programs.
I recognize that this particular panel is specifically interested in health services provided to the Canadian Forces personnel with an emphasis on PTSD. The impact that I'm going to talk to you about is on the family. My opinion on this issue is inspired by the direct experience of working every day with military families. This issue, directly related to the member, is not the area that I will focus on; it is the family.
I believe there is a philosophical stand and a commitment from the general public, our federal and provincial and local governments, that military families play an integral part in the Canadian Forces, and their commitment to service and sacrifice are nothing short of extraordinary.
In keeping with this philosophy, there can be no question that military families, specifically spouses and children, have earned the right to receive exceptional services. Military family resource centres across this country are providing that wide range of valuable services and support in the context of community development, giving military families a direct and powerful influence on the wide variety of programs and services available to them. Working in the context of not-for-profit, governed by the people we serve--the spouses and the Canadian Forces members themselves--our work is extraordinary. But I'm here to tell you that we can do better. Now more than ever, in the history of the Canadian Forces, it is time to do more for our military families.
I'm going to talk to you directly about the impact of an operational stress injury on the family. There is no question that those injuries have a serious impact on the extended and immediate family. Issues, supports, and services that are required from a family perspective could include the following: better education on and awareness of what an operational stress injury or PTSD is, what the warning signs are, what loved ones can do to ensure their member is getting the support he or she needs, and how to talk to children about what an operational stress injury is.
Oftentimes, spouses are the first people to identify that something is just not right, the feeling that spouses are overwhelmed and often suffer residual effects of operational stress injuries, including an onset of their own depression and mental health capacity, and some compassion fatigue. It is also common that existing issues are compounded. For example, if the family has children with special needs or there are already financial stressors or relational or marital issues, things that were once manageable have become now unmanageable.
In general there have been a number of what I would call “misleading” definitions of serving the families, from a variety of organizations. The general term or add-on these days to many mandates tends to include the veteran, the member, and their families. But what does this really mean? That's my question.
We are discovering in the field that it sometimes means that families must jump through some policy and territorial divides between Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence. Sometimes it means they must meet specific eligibility requirements before they can be serviced and supported specific to their own needs and requirements.
For example, we have been hearing from Veterans Affairs Canada that they are struggling with the fact that they want to offer services to family. If the operational stress injury sufferer is a VAC client, they can do so, but changes need to be made in order to recognize that family members deserve to be served in their own right, regardless of whether the ex-military member or the serving member has received or even refuses to seek support.
Operational stress injury clinics need to provide services to families. The eligibility of clients means the active CF member can be considered for services at operational stress injury clinics, but only if they receive a referral signed by the Canadian Forces medical officer, and the family is only served if it's deemed appropriate to the Canadian Forces member's treatment. As a system, we need to give families the tools they need to manage the care of themselves and their families, and we need to do better for our military families.
The bottom line is that specialized services and support should be readily available to families regardless of the situation, since these families are being impacted by the consequences of military service and quite often the residual results of trauma from war, which has long-term effects.
It is no longer good enough that we rely completely on referrals to community mental health agencies, civilian counsellors, or to services through the Canadian Forces military assistance program. The programs that I'm mentioning to you come with great difficulties. Sometimes only short-term counselling is available--one to eight sessions--and there are extreme waiting lists. Or issues are compounded because the providers may have little or no experience in military service operations or general understanding of military lifestyles and stressors.
Clearly there is room for better coordination between specialized services and the military family resource centres. More human resources are required for specialized mental health issues associated with unique military lifestyle stressors and issues, perhaps embedded within the military family resource centres or co-located in something like a casualty support unit or transitional support unit, being stood up across the country.
As it stands now, families of serving and released members are not always guaranteed specialized services and support. Initiated programs in the civilian system of support may not be set up to serve their unique needs.
Another population I'd like to talk about are our reservist families. They are perhaps the most vulnerable and under-researched population in the context of families dealing with operational stress injuries. Other casualties are the spouses, parents, and extended family of the reservist. There is no doubt that the military family resource centre in Gagetown meets the needs of those families living close to our facility, but my grave concern is the extent we are able to help families living in the surrounding rural communities of New Brunswick that encompass much of the reserve units.
Although great efforts have been made to travel to reserve units to provide briefings and information, the truth remains that reserve families live too far from their local military family resource centres or the specialized military services and supports that are available on most major bases to make significant use of the resources. We are beginning to see more and more difficulty meeting those needs. Many of these families in reserve force areas are presenting with post-deployment issues. Reservists and their families need extensive education. They need information. They need support services like those provided to all other military families, especially during post-deployment.
Thank you.
4:35 p.m.
Theresa Sabourin Executive Director, Petawawa Military Family Resource Centre
Good afternoon.
My name is Theresa Sabourin. I'm the executive director at the Petawawa military family resource centre. I have been the executive director there for the past 20 years, so pre-inception of the MFSP program.
I'm delighted to be here today to talk to you about fragmentation of services relating to OSIs. I would also like to state that I echo the issues and challenges and the opportunities that have been previously expressed by my colleagues.
Military family resource centres are safe places for families. Many MFRCs work closely with operational stress injury social support, OSISS, peer support coordinators, but many do not have well-established relationships. These two services are often the first line of support for a family with an undiagnosed OSI or PTSD member, and both services are seeing an increase in families reaching out for support. We see this as a positive first step in helping families and, although some families report they're concerned about potential career implications, their family health is more important.
Family members are often the first to identify the signs of an OSI in their military loved one. Families need to be able to access supports for their mental health and for the mental health of their children prior to the clinical diagnosis of their military member by a psychiatrist. Families need support to deal with the daily challenges of caring for their loved one, as these families are at greater risk of depression and suffer compassion fatigue. This leads to increases in stressors on family functioning and contributes to family disintegration. We as a service system need to provide timely information about OSIs and PTSD and where to go for resources and support.
When the military member is diagnosed and accessing treatment at the operational trauma and stress support centre, OTSSC, the family is not always included as part of the process. Although the family receives information about what an OSI is, they may not have an opportunity to discuss the impact of this on their family unless the military member identifies this as a priority.
For example, in a home where a military member is functioning with an OSI and that member is being verbally abusive toward his or her spouse, that spouse is not necessarily being validated at the OTSSC level and sometimes cannot participate in a meeting to discuss these issues, thereby increasing the stress in this family. Families often come forward when there is caregiver burnout. The MFRC provides a number of services, such as respite child care, but cannot coordinate with the OTSSC because its mandate is to support the members where they are. Unfortunately, there is no client consent to share information with MFRCs; consequently, we cannot work together as colleagues on behalf of supporting family needs and the needs of the entire family.
Further, Veterans Affairs Canada can only support a family if the OSI sufferer is currently a VAC client. Other CF services, such as local-base mental health, do not have the capacity to support the family member and often families must be referred to external community resources for which there are extensive waiting lists. At times, these particular service providers lack military experience, which impacts their capacity to treat the family. For example, if a spouse states to her counsellor, “My husband may have PTSD, because he was involved in an IED explosion while he was travelling in his LAV”, this may mean very little to a counsellor with no military experience. We need to have dedicated clinical resources available to these families.
MFRCs are often challenged in our outreach capacity to families due to the lack of provision of basic information, such as nominal roles or inclusion in critical incident stress teams. MFRCs are not consistently informed of casualties in theatre of operations, and this causes inequities in our ability to reach out in a timely manner to connect with and offer support to our families. It is crucial to connect with families early, to provide early interventions and referrals as needed.
In conclusion, I would like to share with you two initiatives that demonstrate our support capacity and give hope to our systemic ability to support our families.
The Petawawa MFRC is currently working with a local children's mental health service, which is funded by the province. We are providing access to immediate therapeutic services relating to child and family functioning as a result of the stressors of military operations. We are working together with a panel of experts to gain from the collective wealth of experience that services such as CHEO and SickKids have that will contribute to our effectiveness for military families and using this to develop our best practices.
We have also identified the need to orient community service practitioners and professionals to the military lifestyle, and are presently developing an orientation practice and process. My colleagues can certainly also share many other examples of local initiatives that are responsive to family needs.
What I'm most excited about, and what I believe will defragment our services, is an opportunity I had to participate in a working group to address a multidisciplinary network to support military families and their members who are ill or injured through a one-stop access to services and supports. This is very exciting for military families, because it will mean that all services, including the MFRC, will co-locate to provide a holistic approach to supporting these families, and greatly reduce our service gaps and increase our effectiveness.
In my 20 years working with military family support, we have come a long way. I'm just here today to state that we still have a ways to go.
Thank you.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rick Casson
Thank you very much.
We'll start the first round with the official opposition.
Mr. McGuire and then Mr. Rota, go ahead, please.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE
Thank you very much.
Welcome, everyone. I met some of you last summer in Moncton. It's not often that we get the perspective of the family at this committee. It's really good that you have come. Your presentations have been very informative.
Colleen gave the impression that you'd like the military to step away a little bit and let you do your job. I know the military is an all-pervasive career, much more so than other careers.
I was wondering, with the constant rotations that are going on and the constant training that's going on the last number of years, are there a lot of families just saying they've just had enough, and leaving?
4:45 p.m.
Executive Director, Military Family Resource Centre, Halifax and Region
I can only speak anecdotally, I can't speak from fact. Perhaps one of my other colleagues can speak a little bit more to that.
No?
Anecdotal information is all we have. We know that there definitely is deployment fatigue. We've heard the term, and we've seen families quite frustrated, sure.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Executive Director, Military Family Resource Centre, Halifax and Region
I don't have the facts. I would hate to mislead you.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE
Well, I hear anecdotally too that it is a serious problem, what's going on. I don't know how you address something like that. We do have a small military, and they are under constant.... Particularly with our Afghanistan commitments and other commitments, they're pretty well away a lot, and so on. Other people are bringing up the children. They're not getting the support they think they need.
When they do come home, there are problems with the soldiers who've just come out of a military situation, particularly those on the front lines. We've heard from previous testimony that they're not believed. When the solider says that he's not right or he's not feeling right, he's told that he's shirking, he's pretending, he's looking for a pension.
Is there much of that going on that you have to deal with that at the resource centres? Or is that between the soldier and the DVA or other people?
April 15th, 2008 / 4:45 p.m.
Executive Director, Military Family Resource Centre, Halifax and Region
Can either of you answer that? I can't.
4:45 p.m.
Executive Director, Gagetown Military Family Resource Centre
I'd like to respond to the first statement, actually, going back to the families. I don't have any research or numbers, but this is what I often share with members of the chain of command. Gagetown is both a deployable base and a training base, one of the largest training bases in Canada.
We often say to the chain of command that if the family is good and the family is well, the soldier is well, and if the soldier is well, the training, the operation, and the task at hand are well. That creates a lot of buy-in both in a moral sense and a sense of effectiveness of the Canadian Forces. I think it's fair to say that the health and well-being of families is definitely attached to the effectiveness of the Canadian Forces. I don't have stats on that, but I think it is a very good thing just to state that.
As far as the misdiagnosis or the diagnosis piece goes, I have not heard that. In fact we just finished up Task Force 1-07 in Gagetown, and what I have heard and what I am seeing is that there's more understanding of what operational stress injuries are, and there's better education out there. I don't have the sense that there is that denial, as you say, of what it is, but really, I don't have any research on that either.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE
I would just encourage you to be free--this is not for public consumption, this is not going to be in the press, and this may not even be read for 30 years--and to say exactly what's on your mind. We have to write a report and recommendations—
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rick Casson
Not with these, no. Just with the service people.
So we are in open session. This is public information.
4:45 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Thank you for coming. This has been very informative. I really feel there's a disconnect between some of the reports we got from some of the higher-ups and what you actually see on the ground, and it's some of this stuff that I'm hearing in my office as well. So it's nice to hear it and to have it confirmed. I wish I didn't have to hear it. Unfortunately we are hearing it and it is confirmed.
Now, there are some major sacrifices made by individual soldiers. They're shifted around. They have to change every so often, and especially when there are children involved.... Sometimes you have family nearby and you can send them to family. Obviously when you're shifted around, you don't have that capacity so there's an issue of day care. When I hear six months to two years, that pretty well caps a salary on a spouse, which puts financial hardship on our enlisted men and women, which is really not a hardship we should be looking at.
The other one I know is out there is the reluctance to engage MFRCs within the decision process or a feedback mechanism.
I have a whole list of questions, but I'm going to limit it to two. Are there any estimates on how many day care spaces we would need nationwide to service our serving men and women so that their spouses would have the ability to go out and get a second income or maybe a primary income, depending on what the spouse does, so they would start off at the same level as most Canadians?
The other question is that there's the reluctance to engage MFRCs. In your opinion, what is stopping them from engaging you in the process? Is it a turf war? Is it embarrassment? I'm at a loss there. I'd just like to know exactly what it is that is stopping them from engaging.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rick Casson
Could we get short responses? We're already out of time with this slot. But go ahead with your answer.