Let me explain.
Suppose we are carrying out a mission in Jordan, where we are training police officers. The profile required for the mission in Jordan is the following: we need Canadian Forces members or police officers with extensive experience. They don't have guns and they do not interact with the people. It is possible that some men will have hearing aids and that others will be taking pills for high blood pressure or diabetes. Hospitals in Jordan are like our own. So, those men can go to the pharmacy with their prescriptions.
Others are in Darfur. They sleep in tents and their base is about 200 kilometres away from Khartoum. So, we obviously can't send someone there whose hearing aid might malfunction and break. I'm talking about physical things. If somebody's glasses break, we can't send him to get a new pair of glasses. There is no doctor. What are we going to do if he needs to have his blood pressure pills adjusted or if he runs out?
It's the same thing for a psychological profile. In Darfur, the required psychological profile is that the soldiers not have mental health issues that could require therapy, medication, and so on.
I respect what the member said. Just because someone had problems when he was a child doesn't mean he will automatically be refused, but we do want to see how he is going to react. Some people react positively and gain strength. Others are crushed and remain wounded for the rest of their lives.
Yes, we do reject some. Taking part in a mission pays off. A lot of people line up for the job and I have to reject more than I accept. I have to be certain that a police officer who is 45 years old and wants to go to Darfur for a month—in the RCMP, it's nine months—will be able to get through it. Unfortunately, I have to reject him, not because he is sick, but because he doesn't have the required medical profile and I don't have the medical means of supporting him there. The RCMP has determined that the same medical support has to be provided to members whether they are here or in other parts of the world. That is plausible. In other words, I am not going to tell them they may die of a heart attack. They will be transferred to a high-level hospital where they can receive coronary care. When I used to visit the missions, I would lay out a method of evacuation.
In terms of the Armed Forces, when it is large enough, they have their own base. They have all of that and they do it very well with Germany. Those are the standards that we set.