Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, I want to point out that we acknowledged in a number of places, and I've acknowledged every time that I've talked about this report, that the RCMP was one of the first organizations to put a mental health strategy in place. That was an important step, and I think I've acknowledged that. We acknowledged it in writing and I've acknowledged it every time I've spoken to it.
I think I've also said this is an important strategy that needs to succeed. It's not just important to the RCMP that this succeed, but also for the government as a whole because the RCMP is one of the first organizations to have this strategy in place. The whole government should be invested in helping the RCMP make this succeed. That would be the first thing.
In terms of some of the percentages, yes, you can look at the percentages both ways. What we were concerned about, for example, was the result in the survey indicating that 51% of the people on sick leave said they did not have timely access to mental health programs and services if they needed them. You could have put that as 49% said they did. We put it as 51% said they did not.
Of on-active-duty members, 25% essentially said they would not have timely access if they needed it. So we could have put it as 75% said that they did. We put it as 25% saying that they didn't think they would, because we feel that's an important number: 25% of the people, most of whom have probably never had to access these services, were saying that they were not sure they were going to be able to get access to the services if they needed them. To us, that's the significant message.
Yes, you can talk about 75%, for example, feeling as if they would, but the important thing is that when they do need the services and they are off-duty sick and they're getting them, then all of a sudden the number goes to 51%.
A much smaller number of people have had to access those services. The 51% is of a small number, the 25% is of a large number. I'm not trying to say that the RCMP is not taking this seriously or that they don't see this as important. What we're trying to say is that we think there's still significant room for them to improve on this. It's important that they improve and succeed and that they get support from other organizations to help them succeed. When 25% of the active members who responded to the survey say they're essentially not sure they would get timely access to mental health services if they needed them, we think that shows significant room for improvement.