First of all, I know it's always challenging to start a report. Where do you start it, and where do you get the middle and the end of it?
Among some of the concerns we've heard so far is the lack of trained psychologists—and it's not a military or a veterans problem, but a societal problem. What recommendations can we make to improve that situation, not only with financial resources but also with human resources?
In this case, I go back to the situation—and maybe I'm out of my realm when I say this—of the children of Petawawa. We heard Mr. Dallaire say that when everybody was overseas in Germany, everything fell under DND—everything. But when you're here and you're serving in Afghanistan, all of a sudden you have all of these different jurisdictions helping you: you have the province here, you have the military here, you have this here--and it's confusing. That's why we had that problem with the children in Petawawa, who were undergoing terrible mental challenges. But who's responsible for them? We had this political back and forth between the province and the federal government.
So I would like to see a recommendation saying that if there are children of a military family on a military base, then the military should be responsible. I know there are going to be discussions with the provincial government on that, but this is one recommendation I would like to see in order to simplify the process for them. Veterans and their families and their children shouldn't have to go to this department and that department to get one problem solved. If they're with the military, if they're attached to the military, it should be the military that looks after their needs, just like Dallaire said when they were in Germany.
The other concern, of course, is the PTSD. I thought of the symbol used for it, that it's a fracture, and that some fractures heal and some don't. And you heard him mention the pills he takes. Well, I have two veterans with PTSD in my riding and they take more pills than him. Again, it's to prevent them from being suicidal. Of course, what happens to people who are suicidal is that sometimes they take other people with them. That is a concern that we need to be able to deal with, by providing constant reassurance and constant assistance for them in this regard. So we need recommendations in this regard too.
How do we monitor not just Mr. Dallaire but other people and their families as they go through life? We need recommendations in these areas on how to maintain...or keep an eye on them, and especially the situation of the reservists. I think recommendations of that nature would be quite helpful.
Thank you.