National Defence Committee on Nov. 16th, 2020

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Go ahead, Surgeon General.

[MGen Marc Bilodeau]

I was going to get you to do the initial comments, and I may add anything that is required.

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Right now we are working very closely with the Public Health Agency of Canada as part of the vaccine rollout. From a national perspective, they are considering right now the prioritization of the rollout of the vaccine, whether it be for vulnerable populations, first responders and those sorts of people.

Those decisions have yet to be made and will be brought forward by the Public Health Agency to elected officials in the days and weeks to come. Of course, the Canadian Armed Forces will be factored into that order of march or precedence as the vaccine is rolled out.

Internally in the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces, we are undergoing a very similar exercise in the recommended prioritization of the vaccination for DND and Canadian Armed Forces members, and that advice will be brought forward for the consideration of our chief of the defence staff.

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

The federal government has said that vaccination against COVID will be optional. Is that the case for CAF personnel?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

That is something that our chief of the defence staff is currently considering. He will be taking additional advice from his health advisers.

Surgeon General, is there anything you would like to add to that?

[MGen Marc Bilodeau]

Yes, the discussion is ongoing, as Major-General Cadieu said. I'm there to provide medical advice to that discussion.

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

For those who choose not to be vaccinated—if there's a choice—how will their deployments, promotions or requests for transfers be impacted? Now, given that you haven't made those decisions yet, hold off on that. Nonetheless, that's something we will be looking into.

Will all Canadian Armed Forces members receive the same brand of vaccination?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

I think the Public Health Agency is working through right now the number and stocks of the vaccine from various manufacturers, so it's not yet evident to us what specific vaccine will be made available to Canadian Armed Forces personnel.

I think the surgeon general might have additional amplifying information on that.

[MGen Marc Bilodeau]

Madam Chair, what we also don't know yet is which vaccine is going to be the most effective for our specific population. We have fairly young adults in good health—or most of them are—and we don't know which vaccine will be the best one for them. It's too early to say now which vaccine would be used.

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

Will reservists get the same order of precedence for receiving the vaccine as regular forces?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Of course, as the chief of the defence staff considers the rollout of the vaccine internally within the CAF, he will be thinking equally about regular force, reserve force and Canadian Ranger members.

In terms of the actual sequencing event rollout, as indicated, that is still to be considered and analyzed by staff recommending.

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

Thank you.

How many CAF personnel contracted COVID from their deployments in CAF overseas operations?

[Technical difficulty--Editor]

Madam Chair, we might want to stop the timer.

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

Madam Chair, did we just lose all our witnesses?

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

I didn't know my questions were that paralysing.

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Madam Chair, it's Trevor Cadieu here just doing a communications check.

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

How many CAF personnel contracted COVID from their deployments in CAF overseas operations?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Madam Chair, I'm going to have to return to the committee with a precise number. It's a relatively small number of Canadian Armed Forces members who have contracted COVID while serving overseas.

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

What number of CAF members have died as a direct result of being infected with COVID-19?

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

Madam Chair, no CAF members have died as a result of contracting COVID-19. I'll just ask the surgeon general if he wants to comment on the severity of the disease amongst some members.

[MGen Marc Bilodeau]

Madam Chair, overall, six of our members required hospitalization, and all others were treated through out-service capacity.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

You're welcome, Madam Gallant.

Next is Mr. Bagnall.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Michel Marcotte]

Can you unmute yourself, please?

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I, too, would like to give a big thank you to the Canadian military. Your job of protecting us is difficult and dangerous at all times, but particularly now, so please pass on our gratitude.

My first question was posed by Mr. Robillard already, because I was interested in the Rangers as well, so thank you, Mr. Robillard. The rest of my questions were about the Rangers who, as you know, provide instrumental service in the military that, in some cases, no one else can provide. So a big thank you for that to the Canadian Rangers across the Arctic and the north.

The rest of my questions come from the excellent research done by the Library of Parliament, and perhaps Madame Dumont could pass on my gratitude to the great and professional work they always do for committees and members of Parliament.

Major-General, I wonder if you could update us on our mission in Latvia, as much as you can without threatening Canada's security, and then any changes that have occurred as a result of COVID.

[MGen Trevor Cadieu]

We're also grateful for the support communicated to our Canadian Armed Forces members, and I will be very happy to pass that on.

As I indicated in my opening remarks, initially early in the pandemic, as we tried to learn about the disease that was confronting us and Canadians and the world, frankly, the chief of the defence staff made a decision to temporarily contract the global posture of the Canadian Armed Forces.

You specifically asked about our mission in Latvia, which is known as Operation Reassurance. As you know, we have deployed what we call an enhanced forward presence battle group.

Interestingly, as the chief of the defence staff looked at having to contract the global posture, given the situation in Latvia, our confidence, based on the chief of the defence staff's advice that he was getting from his medical advisers, was that we could make a determination that Canada would be able to continue its contribution relatively unimpeded in Latvia. Throughout this crisis, the CAF support to the enhanced forward presence battle group has continued, while, of course, respecting some of the public health measures in place locally in Latvia.

We had to contract the force a little more restrictively in other places like Iraq, for example, where the COVID situation was not under control. Other factors in Iraq, such as the geopolitical and security situation, also forced us to reassess our posture in the region.

Ukraine I would mention as well, specifically as one of the missions that required us to contract the force a little more, again because of the uncontrolled transmission of COVID-19 and the challenges that country is having.

In all cases where it's been possible, we've reinvigorated our collaboration, operations and training in support of our allies.