Mr. Chairman, the first part of the trip to the west coast was cancelled by my whip. He told me that I could not go to the west coast because I had to be back Tuesday for the vote. It was impossible to make arrangements to travel there on Sunday, come back Tuesday and then return again.
I'm going to speak on behalf of my colleague, Roger Gaudet. He was absent following the death of a political colleague in his riding, where Roger used to be mayor. It was more important for him to say goodbye to his friend and former colleague for the last time.
I greatly appreciated the experience and I greatly regret the decision of my whip not to allow me to travel to the west coast. If the trip to Atlantic coast was anything to like the trip to the Pacific coast, it must have been wonderful. In Shearwater, I especially appreciated the testimony of a woman physician in the Armed Forces, who is now self-employed in the civilian sector.
I will tell you what happens when a soldier leaves the armed forces and contacts Veterans Affairs in order to receive treatment. When a soldier with problems shows up, physicians compete among themselves. They give the file to his wife and ask her to look out for his old friends. It's the same thing in Quebec, Ontario, everywhere. It's as if society and physicians are frightened when a veteran shows up. They try to pass the buck because they don't know what to do. I don't know if we will be getting the summary of the testimony given by this retired female physician in Shearwater; I don't remember her name. But it is worth listening to it again, if we have time. It was enlightening.
Something else that I greatly appreciated happened in Goose Bay, Labrador. A physician we heard from spoke with such openness and honesty that after the meeting, I asked him if he was worried about losing his job or being transferred. He said no, that he had been there for 16 years, that he liked his job and that no one wanted to replace him. He mentioned, like other people whom we heard from, how common post-traumatic stress disorder is in the armed forces. It's the first time I have heard anyone say such a thing, and that's why I asked him if he was very sure of what he wanted to say.
I will ask my usual question: should recruits be better informed about the possibility that they will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or operational stress injuries? The physician told me that training was given, for example, on sexual assaults. I was greatly surprised and pleased to learn that that was possible.
Each year training is given for a certain number of months on sexual assaults which can occur among members of the armed forces. People receive training on various topics that do not necessarily concern fighting, handling weapons or physical fitness. This is general training. The physician we heard from would really like to add a component on post-traumatic stress disorder to this training program. He admitted that a person suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder further to an operation can be just as dangerous, if not more so for his friends than for him or herself. This person could be piloting a helicopter and could all of a sudden decide to kill everyone on board because he is no longer responsible or less responsible for his actions. For a member of the armed forces, this physician was unbelievably frank and honest.
Something else, that Brent referred to as well, really opened my eyes and caused me to think: a mission lasts a minimum of 15 months. Troops require a certain number of months of training in the United States, western Canada, etc. In addition they must spend between six and nine months in a theatre of operations. So, for these people, an operational mission does not last from six to nine months. It is not six to nine months that they spend far away from their family, but rather 15 months or more. That really made me think.
My trip was wonderful and I am eager to go to Petawawa and Valcartier to pursue my observations. I think that the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs is ready to make some interesting recommendations to the armed forces on training and on what happens with recruits from the time they enrol to the time they become veterans, not from the perspective of what I call military training, but as concerns humanitarian training, violence, and so forth. There are already courses offered on the effects of alcohol and drugs. We could add a component on post-traumatic stress. It was the physician in Goose Bay who thought of this, not me, but I think we should study this idea.
I have a question for my friend Alexandre. I took the liberty, on my own personal behalf, of telling the physician in Shearwater—because he was extremely interested in the psychological aspect of the question—that we would forward him the “blues” of the committee for information purposes, concerning the testimony of Ms. Brillon.
Has this been done?