We don't have an identifier in our computer base that says a person is homeless. We do have clients who we feel are at a higher risk because they may be shown as “of no fixed address”, so they could be at risk of being homeless or maybe not.
Those clients would be managed through a case manager who would do the necessary follow-up. So there are people we know who may be at risk. For example, everybody leaving the Canadian Forces today gets a transition interview, and on the basis of the transition interview we may identify some people who may be at risk of any number of things, including homelessness, depending on some of the information we get. So it is proactive. It's about making sure people are aware of what we can do, coming back to the OSISS peer support coordinators. I can tell you about a couple of cases in point. I made reference to an individual who walked into the Vancouver district office and said he needed help. That's an easy one to find.
Also, when you look at certain parts of the country, the numbers of reservists are not.... DND, because of the tempo of operation, is using more and more reservists on its missions overseas, and when the reservists come back, they go back into their communities. We do a transition interview and what have you, but others who are regular forces members stay at the base or stay with their group.
The point I'm making here is that to try to reach out to these people, we're trying a number of pilots, and one of the things we're doing is we're writing.... British Columbia has a really high percentage of reservists, particularly in the lower mainland, so we're doing some things there a little bit differently. When I was in B.C., I talked to the gentleman who is in charge of the reservists, and we're working at trying to connect to them in two ways. First, we send out follow-up letters to them: we know you are a reservist and that you served in Afghanistan--and by the way, we want to remind you that if you have any needs, we are here, this is our phone number, call us if you need anything.
Also we're working through our network. There are some things we're doing in Ontario. We made contact with all the reserve units to ask whether they know of people who may be at risk, because if a soldier comes back from a mission and is no longer going to the parades every weekend, it could be an indication he just doesn't want to do that any more or it could indicate he is withdrawing. And maybe when you look into it you find that not only is he not going to parades, you find he quit his job, and there are complaints at social services vis-à-vis some interactions with the family.
So no one solution fits all, and that's why I say you have to come at it in a multi-faceted way. You've got to come at it on the ground and you've got to have your people on the ground making the connections you need, because a directive from me in headquarters is probably not going to be the most effective way to get the results we need.