National Defence Committee on June 5th, 2008

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Mr. Bouchard.

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I welcome you to this afternoon's meeting and I thank you for answering our questions.

A reservist must have a medical file. I'd like to know how this medical file is transferred from the reserve to the operations force. When the reservist chooses to participate in an operation, where does his file go? After that, after the operation, does the same medical file go back to the reserve? Is it different for each army corps, that is the navy, the air force and the army?

[BGen G.J.P. O'Brien]

In the army, the medical files will follow the soldier. As a soldier deploys to his unit, the paperwork that comes with him will come with his medical file. It follows him throughout his tour and is returned with the soldier back to his unit. So there is care of the file from start to finish. It is used consistently as the repository for all medical issues. The medical files are available at all times.

As he transfers from unit to unit, that medical file will also follow him. It is your file that will follow you, from the paper perspective, wherever you go.

As Commodore Bennett has indicated, as we begin to migrate to an electronic system, that will be made even more efficient. There are, of course, issues where sometimes things get lost. It's not unknown that certain medical files do get lost, but they're always found in our system.

That's how we do it in the army.

[BGen E.B. Thuen]

It's the same thing in the air force. We do not deploy individuals; we deploy units and task forces. When we send reservists to augment any of the task force elements going over to theatre, they become part of that element, and their medical files go with that element and come back with the reservists to their home unit.

[Cmdre J. Bennett]

It's the same thing in the navy.

When our people go to sea, their files go to the coast. When they deploy with the army, their file would go to the unit deploying them, and it's returned to the unit after deployment.

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Some witnesses have stressed the importance of the confidentiality of medical files. Do you have problems on that point? The medical file of a person goes, so to speak, from one organization to another or from one service to another. What is your point of view on that? Do you have strict procedures to protect its confidentiality? Could the situation be better?

[Cmdre J. Bennett]

Access to medical files is restricted, and the files are protected in transit very carefully. The paper files are locked in a separate cabinet; there are only certain people who have access to them. In the future, the electronic system will provide greater safeguards, and you won't have the transferability of files that may result in some of the complications of today's system. In any case, the access to those files is very restricted. They are protected and safeguarded in storage and in transit.

[BGen E.B. Thuen]

The medical files are looked after by either medical personnel or by medical clerks who deal with those files exclusively. They are not part of the normal personnel file that transfers. Medical files are kept separate from every other file, so I'm fairly confident about the integrity. No system is infallible, but from my perspective it's as good as we can get until we go to the electronic files with the heavier safeguards.

[BGen G.J.P. O'Brien]

I support the comments of my colleagues.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Mr. Rota.

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

A comment was made, and I believe it was by General O'Brien, about planning to expand reservist services in metropolitan areas. Did I hear that correctly? What exactly did you mean? Is this concentrating in metropolitan areas, or is it just expanding existing services there?

[BGen G.J.P. O'Brien]

It's expanding existing services. The casualty care centres are being spread out across the country in the major groupings of the cities and in the service and reserve communities.

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

If you're in a major centre, you'll probably get more services. If you're in a minor centre, you'll be forced to travel. Is that how that's going to work?

[BGen G.J.P. O'Brien]

No, I was speaking about the casualty care and the coordination centres themselves. They will be distributed as efficiently as possible across the country. Of course, as we see need for more centres, particularly in rural Canada, they will be set up. It's about coordination and how the services will be delivered.

In some parts of the country there are only a few facilities that could treat extremely wounded soldiers, so there needs to be a coordination of care across that spectrum.

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

It's just expanding to more parts of the country, not necessarily concentrating them?

[BGen G.J.P. O'Brien]

That's correct.

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Very good.

We had a couple of soldiers in, and I guess the stories vary depending on what their situation was. You understand that it can happen in any organization. Whether it's military or private business, different people have different experiences with the system and with what's going on.

At your level, we're talking about what the theory is rather than what might actually happen. Is there a system of checks and balances that allows you to evaluate the process and get regular feedback on what's happening on the ground?

What's happening at the general's level can be quite a bit different from what's happening at the private's level, at least in perception. I'm wondering what the process is for getting feedback and information back up to you.

[BGen G.J.P. O'Brien]

I can absolutely speak to that. I see it as my main function, with my sergeant major, to be the commander of the army's eyes and ears on the ground, especially across the reserve community of our country.

Let me try to explain it this way. There is a double system. The first system of checks and balances is in response to the actual services that are or are not provided. That feedback is fed up through the chain in terms of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. There are a number of metrics within that system that I couldn't explain to you, but they are there today.

The second aspect of feedback is directly from the chain of command. We have the reserve chain of command. I meet with brigade commanders and area deputy commanders, who feed back to me specific issues from their chain of command. They are issues from units and individuals about the system in particular. As the first chain is activated and the regular medical system or G1 first management system is responding, the double check comes up my way. I'm able to insert comments or issues that have been brought to my attention into the feedback loop to make sure they are being addressed.

As well as being represented on some of the major personnel management boards, we work very hard to develop a holistic picture of the reserve's institutional concerns. They're driven from the lowest levels up. So I'm confident that almost every issue--personal or otherwise--that is raised in the army reserve today eventually makes its way to me. Some make it a lot faster than others.

[Anthony Rota, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Mr. Lunney.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I first want to acknowledge the cadet program. We have some cadets in our area on Vancouver Island, and we appreciate those programs. We have the Beaufort Squadron air cadets on Vancouver Island, and they are very active. They have a review coming up very shortly. They always want me to be there for the reviews, but they're doing a good job.

Our multi-purpose coastal patrol vessels, like HMCS Nanaimo, are largely staffed by navy reservists, with a few regular forces. So we appreciate reservists in the navy that way. I guess our focus today is less on the navy. I'm not sure how much air force reserve is going on. I guess they are playing a role over there. But my questions are largely for the army reserve. Some of our colleagues have already picked up on these themes, but I'm still curious about something.

To pick up on where Mr. Blaney was going, when the reservist comes back--and they have up to 60 days of leave--they maintain contact. I'm trying to understand how this works. The ones who come back to the base....

We were just at Valcartier, and we saw the great supportive community that exists on the base with the families--the supports there and the networks that are available to them. They hang out together a lot; they're pretty close communities.

For the reservists, I'm a little concerned that they don't have such extensive support. I'm wondering about the time they spend with their reserve units. When they deploy, are only a handful of reservists from a unit actually deployed at a given time? They don't deploy the whole reservist unit. Could somebody maybe explain how that works?

[MGen D.C. Tabbernor]

Just before General O'Brien comments, can I perhaps bring some clarity here? Not only do we have army reservists in Afghanistan, but we have air and naval reservists in Afghanistan as well. So we have reservists in Afghanistan from right across the spectrum. The bulk of them obviously come from the army.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

General O'Brien.

[BGen G.J.P. O'Brien]

The life of a reservist is sometimes quite complicated, but the military comradeship provided by his reserve unit is very much akin to a social community in itself. As soldiers deploy and live their lives, a lot of the social circles of long-time reservists are those soldiers they serve with in their local unit.

Our reinforcement of the chain of command makes responsibility for their soldiers, even in civilian life, a key aspect of the life of a leader in the reserve army. The difference between a regular and a reservist is that the individual from the regular army might come back into the PMQ, the married quarters, in the actual community itself. The reservist comes back to a small town or a large town in his community, but he still lives within the community of his regiment or unit. It is that contact that is maintained by the unit. Some of it is quite heartwarming and heart-felt, in terms of what units will do to welcome back their soldiers.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

General, if I could just jump in, the point I'm trying to raise is that if he's the only one who has been out there having experiences that his colleagues may not have had, and he's come back out of an intense...because they're integrated throughout the forces over there right now. They've come back, they've witnessed something challenging—they're having some sleep challenges and so on—and their colleagues have not been through that type of experience; I would assume they have a group of people who understand what they're going through, but not in the same way as those who may have been in the battle with them.