Evidence of meeting #11 for National Defence in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was illness.
A recording is available from Parliament.
2:35 p.m.
Professor, Military and International Law, Chapman University, As an Individual
I can't speak to that. I'm sorry. I don't know.
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Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Okay.
Can another witness tell us whether other countries have it?
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Col Rakesh Jetly
Something to that effect exists within most NATO countries. It applies to different degrees depending on the countries that have obligatory service versus voluntary militaries. Ultimately, most defence forces.... And it's not for mental illness, it's for physical illness. It is for other things. The concept is always in review. It's always under scrutiny, within Canada, in the sense of is it the same to be deploying to a large base like Kandahar, where you have a hospital, as to a small village in Sierra Leone? We talk about this.
I will take advantage of saying to you that we have been taking a very progressive view as we've gone further with mental illness. We're really emphasizing more and more. I sit quarterly with my colleagues who are helping to make the decisions of actually looking at people's functioning more than their diagnoses. We look to see... if somebody has had three depressions, but they've only missed three or four days of work here and there, and they've been able to sail and they've been able function, we're not saying, “You can't serve in the military because you have this illness.” If they are functioning, and able to continue to do their jobs safely, we are encouraging, and the military is responsive to, accepting a little bit more risk when it comes to illness if somebody is able to function with treatment.
2:35 p.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
I actually have no further questions for our witnesses. I think I'll just end by thanking them all for their testimony and for being patient with us. I very much appreciate it.
Thank you.
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Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karen McCrimmon
Thank you.
Would you like to give up your time?
Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, carry on with your question.
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Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
That's very kind.
It's actually a follow-up question.
Mr. Jetly, you answered my last question. Perhaps the rear-admiral could answer this one.
On average, how many Forces members are released each year for mental health issues? Do you have those figures?
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RAdm Geneviève Bernatchez
We do not monitor those data in the military justice system, but perhaps my colleague Dr. Jetly has the information.
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Col Rakesh Jetly
We'll get you the specific figures. From the last numbers I remember, about 5,000 people leave the military every year. I think a third of them are for medical reasons. I don't know if we have the breakdown for mental illness, but we'll take that on advisement. We have the numbers of people who are released. We have the numbers of people who are released for medical reasons, which are the so-called 3B releases. I don't know if we've gone through the exercise of separating them by diagnosis. It gets complicated, because many times people have more than one diagnosis. Somebody could have chronic pain and PTSD.
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Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
However, if we had the exact data on people released for mental health reasons, it might possibly give us an idea of a way forward.
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Col Rakesh Jetly
Absolutely.
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Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Okay.
You can give the committee the information later.
2:35 p.m.
Col Rakesh Jetly
We'll look at it for sure.
2:35 p.m.
Col Rakesh Jetly
Absolutely. It was a good question.