Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for allowing us to speak today on behalf of the general membership of the RCMP.
I'll tell you a little bit about me. I am also a sergeant in the RCMP, presently stationed in Vancouver, British Columbia, but also on leave without pay from the RCMP to work in the National Police Federation as a co-founding chair.
Previous to my role in the National Police Federation, I was a staff relations representative. That particular body elected me to run as the chair of the staff relations representative program's health committee. We advocated on behalf of better health benefits and working conditions under the Canada Labour Code, as well as such supplemental benefits as dental care and massage therapies.
During my period in that role, between May 2012 and February 2016 just past, I was involved in a number of large initiatives. I'll just hit on a couple of them. One was the transition of the RCMP to provincial-territorial health care. Others were the discussions around changes to supplemental benefits, such as dental care and massage; the drafting and release of the RCMP's mental health strategy; the implementation of the Road to Mental Readiness training for members of the RCMP to increase their mental resilience; the outreach of Veterans Affairs benefits to members of the RCMP; and I was directly involved with the study of, the drafting of, and the implementation of the RCMP's internal determination process with respect to occupational injuries. I brought to that the perspective of a member on the ground.
I'll discuss the determination process, because it came up on Tuesday in discussion, and I want to clear up a few issues there. The need for this process came about for two reasons. The first was the change to provincial health care. The second was our position that the RCMP for many years had not dealt with members who got sick on the job in a timely fashion, allowing them to languish, perhaps fall through the cracks, and not return to work in a timely and effective manner. Our position was simple. The RCMP needed to adopt a national determination process for occupational injuries to treat all members equally, regardless of posting, division, province, or territory.
I will say that the idea of moving to a provincial compensation or a workers' compensation board idea was brought to the table by RCMP management. It was unequivocally, categorically, and vehemently opposed by me, by my committee, and by the entire SRR program. The reasons for that I'll go into now.
We are Canada's national police force. Our members should be treated equally everywhere in Canada, no matter their province of posting. Most of those members do not choose their province of posting. This brings in the area of concern over adjudication of occupational injuries and how provinces differ.
Some examples, and these are just the highlights, would be presumptive legislation for PTSD regarding first responders. Ontario just passed that. Ontario has it. Alberta has it. Manitoba has it for all employees. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and B.C. have private members' bills out there that are seeking to get it, but we don't know if those will pass. Other provinces do not. Suffice it to say, then, that in today's RCMP, with the focus on the mental health and well-being of its members, I would suggest perhaps more study needs to be done in that area before pulling the pin.
Chronic stress claims resulting from workplace harassment vary significantly from province to province under workers' compensation. There is no clear benchmark. In my role as an SRR, I can attest that disciplinary proceedings have a significant impact on the involved member. The stress from protracted investigations and protracted discipline hearings can have a permanent impact on that member's life.
Appeal timelines in the workers' compensation world vary considerably between provinces. The lowest is a 30-day appeal for Nova Scotia. The longest is one year. Some provinces have different timelines according to what the decision was about.
Then there are the job search bonuses in case of a discharge—for example, if someone cannot return to active duty and they end up taking a medical discharge. The job search bonuses, whether you're actively seeking or not actively seeking, vary widely across the country, depending on the province you're in.
These are a few of the concerns, just the highlights, with respect to the inequality of care that exists today under WCB legislation across Canada. We have not even begun to discuss a scenario such as a member who gets hurt in Alberta, returns to work, and then gets transferred to New Brunswick. It's my understanding that the receiving WCB can ask to review the entire file of the approving WCB and alter, rescind, or modify treatment.
Not all avenues—