National Defence Committee on Nov. 20th, 2020

[MGen Dany Fortin]

Madam Chair, I could certainly do that.

I could also add briefly that we're very much aware of the drawdown due to the degrading geopolitical and security environment in Iraq as well as due to COVID. We've reduced the activities in both Jordan and Lebanon. We have since resumed a lot of the training that is away from the urban areas in both Jordan and Lebanon, and that continues apace. As well, we are refocusing the training in Iraq at this time.

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

Both the rear admiral and you, General, talked about getting more testing for the Canadian Armed Forces. You also said that we're relying on public testing.

My questions are, how much COVID testing has taken place on our deployed missions, and who is responsible for conducting those tests and getting the results back to our troops?

[MGen Dany Fortin]

Rear Admiral Patterson, better than anyone, can answer the specifics on the medical screening and the COVID testing prior to deployment. I would add that, during operations, as cases come up, there's an integral medical capacity that is deployed. There are partnerships with our allies and partners locally, and we also leverage what is available in that particular theatre of operation. When appropriate, the individual is isolated, and, if required, evacuated back to either here or a third location for medical treatment.

Admiral Patterson.

[RAdm Rebecca Patterson]

Madam Chair, I can't add a lot more to that on the international perspective. If you were looking for specific numbers, that will have to be a question we take on notice so that we could provide you with what you're looking for.

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

That's fine.

Admiral Patterson, I'm looking in particular at troops who are stationed in major centres, such as Ukraine in Operation Unifier, and Operation Reassurance, particularly the troops stationed in Latvia. When we look at Operation Impact, with troops in both Kuwait and Iraq, are we relying on their public health services to provide the testing for our troops there, or are we using the military testing of our allies in those locations?

[RAdm Rebecca Patterson]

Madam Chair, I apologize for not having a clear answer on this one. If I can put that as a question for notice, I will get back to you with those details. I prefer to give you something more precise than general.

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

Then I would ask, when you provide that information...one of the concerns I have with troops on deployment is the disparity of health care services in other countries versus what we are used to here in Canada. I'm not so concerned about Latvia, but I look at Ukraine and how their system is getting overrun with COVID cases right now, as well as in Kuwait and Iraq.

I'm wondering if you could provide us with the protocols that are in place in case somebody gets severely ill and is currently serving in the Canadian Armed Forces.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Thank you very much.

Go ahead, Mr. Robillard.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today.

During this pandemic, the virus is not the only danger threatening our fellow citizens. We should all be taking care of our mental health.

Can you tell us about the support provided to the Canadian Armed Forces during this pandemic, more specifically support for Canadian Armed Forces members who had to intervene at Quebec CHSLDs?

[MGen Dany Fortin]

Thank you for the question.

I will say a few words and, if it's okay with you, I will then yield the floor to Rear Admiral Patterson and Brigadier-General Carpentier, who will be able to give you more clarifications on situations related to Quebec and to what we have done there.

I'd like to start off by saying that we are extremely careful. The well-being of troops and members of the defence team is a crucial priority within the department. We are also very aware that robust leadership on the ground, well-connected to the situation and to our staff, is often key in mental health challenge cases.

We have a program to support our troops. When we had to deploy troops in CHSLDs and long-term care facilities in Ontario, we made sure to have trained people on the ground—social workers and chaplains—to provide that close support to those troops.

I will now yield the floor to Rear Admiral Patterson.

[RAdm Rebecca Patterson]

Madam Chair, I'll start with the deployment. We believe in preventing problems before they happen. The Canadian Armed Forces builds mental resiliency into our personnel throughout their careers. We have a very specialized program called the road to mental readiness. Prior to this deployment, we recognized that this was going to be a unique situation that Canadian Armed Forces members found themselves in, so we adapted the program to address that.

In addition, leadership support and observation of their personnel when they were deployed was quite critical to making sure that we had built in regular rest and work cycles. Further to that, during the deployments themselves, we also had social workers on site, as well as chaplains or padres from our service, for them to have support in place.

If any member of the Canadian Armed Forces needs access to mental health support, we continue to run a robust mental health care system, though we've had to adapt how we deliver services during the COVID pandemic and have been using different methods of delivering care, whether that be through virtual care or keeping a 24-7 telephone line available to people so they can phone in and seek support. I would also say that we do this in partnership with our chaplain colleagues as well to help them provide spiritual guidance, etc.

For those who do require treatment, as I've already said, the full spectrum of mental health support services has remained in place. We provide services to our members as they are required, including those who served on this particular deployment.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Thank you.

I would once again like to thank the Canadian Armed Forces for the assistance they lent to CHSLDs in Quebec. That help was precious and quite necessary.

In case of increased outbreak activity in long-term care establishments, would it be possible for the Canadian Armed Forces to return?

If so, what would be the time frames and at what point would the Canadian Armed Forces be able to meet that demand?

[MGen Dany Fortin]

Thank you for the question.

In the spring, nearly everything in society came to a halt. That was the order given. We had more staff to assign those tasks to, be they people from the regular forces, of course, or from the reserves.

[Technical difficulties]

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

All right. Thank you very much.

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you have the floor.

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

Madam Chair, am I the only one to notice that our witness is having technical difficulties?

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

General Mialkowski, could you take that and finish the answer?

Stand by.

[MGen Dany Fortin]

Madam Chair, I apologize. I don't know how much of it was cut off. We're back on now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

You have about 30 seconds, please.

[MGen Dany Fortin]

Sorry, Madam Chair, was this for me?

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Monsieur Brunelle-Duceppe, do you want to repeat your question?

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

It wasn't my question. Actually, our witness was answering Mr. Robillard's question. I don't want to steal the answer to his question, but I can start with my own questions. I haven't asked any yet. May I?

[The Chair, Liberal, Karen McCrimmon]

Yes, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want you to know, Major General Fortin, that the reserves are very important to me. I'm wondering if you have the numbers on armed forces members who have been involved in the pandemic response. Do you know roughly how many people came from the reserves?

[MGen Dany Fortin]

Thank you for the question.

Within the reserves, more than 7,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces had decided to participate full time in the first wave. I don't have the national distribution, but I can tell you that the total is 7,000 in the primary reserve.

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

That's huge. So this demonstrates the importance of the reserves to the Canadian Armed Forces.

However, it's our understanding that some brigades have reduced their recruitment quotas for 2020-21. I was wondering first of all if this was correct.

Second, is it directly related to the pandemic, or are there other factors that could have affected recruitment?