National Defence Committee on Nov. 20th, 2020

[MGen Dany Fortin]

Thank you for the question.

I'm not in a position to comment on recruitment as a whole. Without a doubt, recruitment was affected in terms of procedure rather than quantity, as many activities were done virtually. I'm not aware of any quotas that have been reduced within brigades. We can take note of this question and answer it later. If you wish, I can ask one of the divisional commanders to answer the question as to what is applicable to their situation.

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

All right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

That's great.

Thank you very much.

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

I think Brigadier-General Carpentier wanted to elaborate.

[BGen Gervais Carpentier]

Madam Chair, I'd like to answer the question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Go ahead.

[BGen Gervais Carpentier]

I just want to mention that we certainly don't want to impose quotas to reduce recruitment into the reserves. As Brigadier-General Fortin mentioned, the pandemic has presented its own set of challenges in terms of recruiting capacity.

There's another element to consider. When activities resume, the training courses and individual instruction will be what will allow us to train our staff. We have needs, and we want more reservists. More than 40% of the personnel who participated in Operation LASER in Quebec were reservists. This is an important resource for the Canadian Armed Forces.

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

With that in mind, Brigadier-General Carpentier, do you still believe that Canada's defence policy objectives of protection, security and engagement can be met, particularly in terms of increasing the number of men and women in uniform? Is the pandemic making it more difficult for you to achieve these objectives?

[BGen Gervais Carpentier]

Achieving defence policy objectives certainly remains a priority. As with the rest of society, we are faced with the unknowns of the pandemic, and we must adapt our plans. We are working hard to achieve our goals.

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

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Thank you, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

Now it's up to Mr. Garrison. Mr. Garrison's had a technical issue with his headset and microphone, but he's emailed me the question. I will share that with you.

His question is the following: “I would like to ask a final question about the impact of DND's privatization during COVID. What measures have been taken to make sure that employees of private contractors have access to the amount and quality of PPE they need in order to protect their own health and the health of CAF members and the DND civilian employees they work alongside every day?”

[MGen Dany Fortin]

Madam Chair, thank you for the question.

I would respond by amplifying what I mentioned earlier about the application of public health measures and the additional layer within the establishments of Defence. Whether an individual is a CAF member, a member of the Defence team or a private contractor supporting us, they are expected to adhere to the same protocols and the same public health measures. Those who are contracted by Defence are afforded an opportunity to have the PPE we have provided to perform their tasks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

All right. Thank you very much. Would any of the other witnesses have anything to contribute to this question?

Fine, we'll move on, then, to Mr. Bezan.

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

First of all, I want to thank both General Mialkowski and General Carpentier for the reports on what they witnessed in long-term care facilities in Ontario and Quebec. How long did it take, when you were witnessing things on the ground earlier this year in our long-term care facilities, for you to believe this was going to be a substantial report that would trigger a series of events, including the Ontario long-term care commission study that's taking place right now?

[MGen Dany Fortin]

I will ask General Mialkowski first to comment. It's very clear that Canadian Armed Forces members, I expect, have a duty to report. That's not exclusive to COVID-19 and what was observed in long-term care facilities.

General Mialkowski.

[BGen Conrad Mialkowski]

As the question demonstrates, certainly we started to see observations as related to both standards of practice and duty of care upon our initial arrival in the long-term care homes. As our teams had better sensitivities to the tasks they were performing and started to see different circumstances, and not only similarities across the five homes we were initially in, but also the variances within the practices in the five different homes, we started to get low-level reporting from our augmented civilian care team, which was the medical team inside the homes. That was reported up the chain of command.

I started to receive reports on that as early as May 7. We started to validate that reporting and confirm it such that I provided a letter to my commander, the commander of CJOC, in writing, one week later, on May 14.

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

General, how long did it take, in your mind, before the forces were able to regain control of the situation in long-term care facilities?

[BGen Conrad Mialkowski]

Specific to Ontario, they varied by the facility. It wasn't just the Canadian Armed Forces that was able to provide stability in those homes. It was a partnership with both the Province of Ontario and the resources they were flowing in, not only to the seven different homes we were in but also to the close to 200 homes that were in crisis across Ontario at the same time. Each home had a different period of time to come to stability, which also sort of contributed to how long we remained in each of those homes and when we would transition to another home.

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

Back on April 24, the chief of the defence staff issued a letter to all CAF personnel regarding COVID-19, noting that the personnel's “[u]se of help lines and access to mental health professionals is at an all-time low”. Did we see an uptake in requests for more mental health support, as well as the use of hotlines and helplines, after our troops were involved in Operation Laser at the long-term care facilities?

I don't know if you can answer that, General, or if maybe Admiral Patterson can.

[MGen Dany Fortin]

I'll defer to Admiral Patterson.

[RAdm Rebecca Patterson]

Certainly, since we reminded people that these resources were available, we started to see a gradual increase in access to the 24-7 line. As well, as we've gone through our business resumption plans and actual delivery of service in a physical location, people are accessing mental health care.

To go to your second point, about whether we have seen something directly linked to the long-term care facility component, right now that is not information that we have. I'm unable to comment on that at this time. I know it is something the surgeon general and his team have under consideration.

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

Thank you.

How much more time do I have, Madam Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Another minute.

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

I'd like to give that time to Madam Gallant.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

First of all, we learned earlier this week that the personnel deployed on Operation Laser had inadequate, inefficient and expired PPE. I want to ask the commanders, who would have been in charge of Operation Laser, whether or not that had ever been reported to them.