National Defence Committee on Feb. 9th, 2017

[Capt(N) Chris Ross]

There was actually a point, some seven or eight years ago, when almost 50% of naval reservists were working full time. We bristle now at the 800 number, the 25%, but at one point it was near 50%. There was a conscious effort to reduce the number of full-time naval reservists, because we had evolved into not just a strategic naval reserve but almost an operational naval reserve. There was a conscious effort to draw us back down to become a strategic naval reserve of predominantly part-time service.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

You spoke about the environment now. Are budgets returning? Are things blossoming? Is the program starting to come back?

[Cmdre Marta B. Mulkins]

Most definitely. Certainly over the last few years, the budget that the reserve has required has been absolutely available. There's been no issue with budget.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

You spoke a little about your tactics for recruitment. You talked about getting out in the community. You talked about finding ways to...I don't know if I want to use the term “make it sexy”, but you talked about some of the different ways. Have you thought about or concentrated on the fact that the cadet program would offer natural recruitment for the reserve program, and is there some success there?

[Cmdre Marta B. Mulkins]

I think there is great interest in cadets. Those who are interested apply. They absolutely do.

Chief, do you know how many more...?

[CPO 1 David Arsenault, Chief Petty Officer, Naval Reserve, Royal Canadian Navy, Department of National Defence]

As far as I know, we make it a point to not be seen to be recruiting cadets into the Canadian Armed Forces; however, we do provide visibility to them as to what their options might be, and if they want to approach us, we're more than happy to have them. There are a number of ex-cadets in the naval reserve doing tremendous service for our country.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

You don't use that specifically as one of your tactics for recruitment?

[CPO 1 David Arsenault]

We actually look not to do that, because they are youth.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

You spoke about post-Afghanistan. When we had the Minister of Defence here, we talked about transitioning from the forces to being a veteran. What about transitioning from reserves to being a veteran? Can you tell me a little about it? I have no knowledge of the process, or whether that's something you struggle with, or whether there are better levels of success than perhaps they've had in the regular forces.

[Cmdre Marta B. Mulkins]

That is a timely question. I don't think it's been a significant issue in the past in the reserves. In fact, many reservists will retire and don't even think of themselves as being veterans per se. That is changing, though, as we know.

In the past it was more on an individual basis. Somebody might have retired from the reserve with some type of medical pension, for example, that would be administered through Veterans Affairs. However, in the last few years we've learned that it is potentially a seam, so there is a Canadian Armed Forces-wide examination of exactly that type of transfer. We're reviewing those types of questions right now, at the chief of reserve level, with General Bury, who has oversight over all reserve policies.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Do I have any more time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Essentially, you don't. You have 15 seconds or less.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

All right. I won't bother to try to get another one in. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

I'm going to give the floor over to Mr. Paul-Hus.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My thanks to the witnesses for being here today.

Before I proceed, I would first like to table a motion, which reads as follows:

That the Committee accept the invitation to travel to Slovenia at the conclusion of the study of the Defence of North America and travel to Latvia, Slovenia, Poland, Ukraine, Brussels and Vienna in order to study Operation Reassurance and Operation Unifier, visit our troops overseas, and meet with regional stakeholders: EU, NATO, and the OSCE, and that the necessary staff accompany the Committee.

It's about seeing the Russian threat and meeting our troops abroad.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

That is a debatable motion, so I'll open the floor to discussion on it. Does anyone want to weigh in?

Go ahead, Mr. Spengemann.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Chair, given the fact that we have our witnesses with us, for the benefit of some additional time for questions, I would propose that we deal with this motion in committee business.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Okay. Is there a particular way you want to word that request?

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

I move to adjourn debate.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

We're going to adjourn debate on the motion and continue.

You have the floor.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My questions are for Commodore Mulkins.

We have talked a lot about recruitment. Could you tell me what has been improved recently?

We know that the medical examinations take a long time. They have to go back and forth to Ottawa. Has that been resolved? And what about the security screening?

Those two factors have been prolonging the delays. Has that changed?

[Cmdre Marta B. Mulkins]

The medical clearance and the security clearance are two of the factors that will take a substantial amount of time for all enrolment files, both regular and reserve.

Within the Canadian Armed Forces, the security clearance process has changed immensely just in the last few months as a result of the adoption of new systems and processes. Reserve recruitment is benefiting from those changes as well.

It is important to note that the process they have in place, from which we're going to benefit, is really for the files of candidates who, for example, haven't lived outside the country, so it's much easier to do the work to validate and verify the past history. The files for folks who have lived outside the country will take a little bit longer to clear. In our own recruiting processes, they probably won't be recruited within the 21 days. However, they can still be recruited pending the eventual clearance of those files.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I have a short question, and I would like a short answer, if possible.

I know there are often tensions in the military between the reservists and the regular force.

Are you experiencing the same tensions in the navy? Generally, do things go well?

[Cmdre Marta B. Mulkins]

In fact, we're in the process of reorienting how we employ reservists at sea. In the past many years, the Kingston-class vessels were primarily crewed by reservists. We're moving back to an era when reservists will be on every ship of the surface fleet. We're at the opening days of that era.

That said, I fully expect we're going to have a true one-navy collaborative approach. We come from the same training system and we have the same occupations, so we think it's going to be good.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I want to go back to the issue of the operating budget for your 24 units.

In your training budget, how many man-days do you usually have per member? Is it 33 days?