National Defence Committee on Nov. 16th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

We do have a bit of extra time. Four committee members have indicated they would like a little extra time to ask another question: Mr. Bezan, Mr. Bagnall, Mr. Benzen and Mr. Baker. Each will have three additional minutes.

You're up first, Mr. Bezan.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

I want to come back quickly to the armed forces leadership on the whole avenue of medical intelligence. The first organization in the Government of Canada that was aware of COVID-19 was the Canadian Forces medical intelligence unit, who reported that to the chain of command and up. Then it went to cabinet. There was a little bit of delay by the government in reacting to that intel.

What role is the Canadian Forces medical intelligence unit playing today in not just this pandemic but also how it's being observed by our adversaries, and how might that change the operations of the Canadian Armed Forces?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Our medical intelligence capability is a team that evaluates threats from infectious diseases and other environmental hazards. It is really focused on the health supports, or on the Canadian Armed Forces members as it pertains to their deployment on operations.

We recognized that in very early January the Public Health Agency had communicated to senior leaders the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the heels of that and throughout this, our medical intelligence team has been collaborating very closely with other government departments, the Public Health Agency in particular. We are also collaborating with our allies to scan for developments of this particular threat, and other environmental and infectious disease threats to Canadian Armed Forces members on all operations around the globe.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Thank you, and I'll give the rest of my time to Mrs. Gallant.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Have all personnel deployed on Operation Laser in long-term care facilities been issued non-expired PPEs on a daily basis?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Our chief of the defence staff takes very seriously the health of the force—what we refer to as “force protection”. Whether he's deploying Canadian Armed Forces members into combat operations or in support of vulnerable Canadians in long-term care, he is very directive in ensuring that they have the safety equipment they require.

The CAF deployment to long-term care was no exception. He issued unambiguous direction that all CAF members go into long-term care facilities with the medical grade personal protective equipment that they required for that task and that they be adequately trained on that equipment.

Without exception, all Canadian Armed Forces members who did go into long-term care received material that had been certified, either by the Public Health Agency of Canada or by the Canadian Armed Forces health services team, to ensure that equipment complied with medical standards.

There was one stock—I can turn to our surgeon general to amplify this—as required, a stock of nitrile gloves that had reached its expiry date. It required certification before being issued to members. That was only after our health services and medical folks had determined that this material was still compliant all health standards.

I'll turn it over the surgeon general to see if he would like to amplify that.

[MGen Marc Bilodeau]

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair.

We worked with Mr. Crosby's team and his quality engineering test establishment to make sure to recertify, based on the industry standard, any material or personnel protective equipment—gloves in that instance—that were past the expiry date on the label. We were able to certify that they were still valid and usable by our people.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Given how long it takes to replace fighter jets, helicopters and ships, it's not a stretch to wonder whether or not the pandemic PPE was expired.

I'm receiving reports that people had to use masks that had expired in 2003. There was nothing to share with frontline workers at the nursing homes. They had nothing other than what they could get their hands on at that point, maybe from Home Depot. I'm really concerned that our stores had not been replenished since the SARS outbreak.

Can you offer me some reassurance there?

[MGen Marc Bilodeau]

Madam Chair, I am not tracking masks from 2003 that were delivered to our members for any of their tasks. For sure, there was that lot of gloves that we tested and were able to recertify.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

All right.

Thank you very much.

All right, Mr. Bagnell.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to thank all of our witnesses for your very comprehensive and knowledgeable answers, and also for protecting all the regular troops in my riding, which is all of the Yukon. They each have their own office and separate entrances into the building.

I just have one question in two parts. It's for Admiral Patterson. I want to zoom in on the needs of women in particular.

First, can you identify any special unique challenges for women caused by the COVID situation and any accommodation for that?

Second, as you know, our active troops are only half the story. Their families are the other half, as you mentioned, actually. I'm glad you mentioned that. Once again, for the women, children and men who have to stay home, there are great challenges as well, including mental health. Are there any special challenges for women who stay home, or any services or accommodations for that?

[RAdm Rebecca Patterson]

I think I could say that COVID affects both men and women. For men and women service members, how it impacts their families is the same.

Can I tell you that there are any specific or unique challenges faced by women who serve that are not faced by men? That's not something we can answer right now. However, what I can say is that the chief of the defence staff established a very good criteria to use, to look at people who absolutely needed to be at work, and one of the considerations was family issues, whether it be the essential requirement to provide child care, or perhaps having a family member who was immunocompromised in some way and could be impacted. I would say that the special and unique challenges were taken into account for all men and women who serve, in terms of the criteria established by the chief of the defence staff as to who would be working or deploying to participate in Operation Laser or day-to-day operations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Mr. Benzen, you have two and a half minutes, please.

[Bob Benzen, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

We talked earlier about how we pulled back on some of our training, how we brought troops home from foreign missions, and how we devoted a lot of resources to COVID-19. How has that affected our adversaries, people like Russia and China? Have they taken advantage of this in any way, particularly China? Have they seen this as a weakness, and somehow are they trying to take advantage of it?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

We are very sensitive at once to the needs of Canadians, and our chief of the defence staff has directed, of course, through Operation Laser, that we remain poised and prepared to respond to the evolving needs of our country. He has also been unambiguous that we need to continue to be ready for any potential external threats to Canada and Canadians. Because of that, what we've seen across this country in recent months is reinvigoration of some of our individual and collective training in training areas across Canada to include live-fire manoeuvre training. While we continue to support Canadians throughout this pandemic, it is absolutely essential that, with the residual capacity that we have, we maintain our force generation, our training activities for operations abroad, so that no potential adversaries can take advantage.

Again, we have surged back out to continue to operate in over 20 missions globally alongside our allies, safely respecting the COVID environment, and also to deliver the mission that our government has sent us out to do.

[Bob Benzen, Conservative, Calgary Heritage, AB]

You don't think a country like China is taking advantage of the situation to do something to Taiwan or Hong Kong or other areas of the world, thinking that we have a weakness because we're focusing more internally on our own country at this time.

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

I think different adversaries and competitors, whether they be state-based or violent extremist organizations, are absolutely trying to capitalize on the environment, the uncertainty, the chaos, that's been brought on by the pandemic. It's for that exact reason that our chief of the defence staff has directed us to maintain our edge and to continue to conduct the training that's required for our members to be effective when operations deploy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Thank you very much.

Monsieur Brunelle-Duceppe, you have two and a half minutes, please.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

First of all, gentlemen, thank you for being here today and for doing such outstanding work—work that is so very important. That is the first thing I wanted to tell you before I say, “see you next time.”

Under Operation Laser, the CAF provided support mainly in large centres, if I'm not mistaken. I am from a fairly remote region in Lac-Saint-Jean, and it has one of the highest infection rates in Quebec and Canada right now. So far, our health care system, our residential and long-term care centres, our hospitals and our private homes are coping. Most of them are more than an hour away from a military base, which has no reserve unit.

Does the CAF have a plan for rapid deployment to more rural areas, if it receives such a request?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for his question.

Yes, as we did throughout the first wave of the pandemic, the Canadian Armed Forces has set a domestic-ready force consisting of regular force, reserve force and Canadian Rangers—and, of course, we have some great civilians in support as well—prepared to respond to the needs of not only major urban areas but also rural environments. We saw quite a bit of that during the first wave of the pandemic with deployments to Nunavik and la Basse-Côte-Nord in the province of Quebec for example, with Canadian Rangers surging throughout remote communities in their respective provinces and territories. That will continue, I expect fully, as we continue to operate through this pandemic.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

When he appeared before the committee two weeks ago, Minister Sajjan told us that he was trying to determine what type of role the Reserve could play in the current pandemic.

Is that a discussion you have taken up on your end?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

The Canadian reserves, army, air force and navy, have featured prominently throughout the domestic response whether it be Operation Globe and/or Operation Laser as well.

I would give you one very strong, powerful example. In the Canadian Armed Forces' support for long-term care in the province of Ontario, there was a very significant reserve presence. Inside those long-term care facilities were young Canadian reservists, who were serving their nation with pride and compassion to Canadians in their time of need. We've seen that across the country with reservists postured to act as local response forces. I expect this will continue throughout the balance of this pandemic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

All right.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Garrison, there's two and a half minutes if you'd like a question.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I want to thank Rear-Admiral Patterson for highlighting the role Canadian military families play in partnership with the Canadian Armed Forces in everything they do.

I want to ask a specific question about the impact of COVID on recruiting for the Canadian forces and for the reserves. I know we have had trouble meeting recruiting targets and I'm suspecting that COVID presents some challenges there.

I also believe that the crisis the economy is in generally will also present some opportunities as unemployment rises, if we can make Canadians aware of the opportunities in the Canadian forces.

I'd like to hear something about the impact of COVID on recruiting.

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Like all of our activities in the Canadian Armed Forces, early in the pandemic we had to work out how we were going to organize to continue to conduct our activities safely in a responsible way, and that included recruiting. In the early period of this pandemic, as we compressed our activities and activated our business continuity plans, the same applied to our recruiting centres until we could learn how to optimize the use of digital tools—and much of that has happened recently.

We have reinvigorated our recruiting efforts, which are absolutely essential to a large force, any military force. We have an element of attrition on an annual basis and therefore it's imperative that we continue to bring in young Canadians who want to serve their country and ensure they're trained in a timely manner to integrate into operations. That is now happening.

I would agree with you absolutely, Madam Chair, that the Canadian Armed Forces present a tremendous employment opportunity for young Canadian men and women.