Yes, Mr. Chair, regarding the employment of veterans in Veterans Affairs, I think quotas of any sort are counterproductive. I would submit that the culture at Veterans Affairs Canada is broken, despite the best efforts of a lot of good people working on behalf of veterans.
It's very much an insurance company approach to doing business. I dare say that veterans of service in the military and RCMP are experts at following orders, and if they are thrown into that kind of a culture, they are going to follow orders. Culture is bigger than any individual.
I feel very strongly that the culture has to change. I feel very strongly that to do that it has to go towards a needs-based approach. I also feel very strongly that in order to satisfy that needs-based approach, case managers on the front lines have to be empowered to offer veterans what they really need. I think that's the principle upon which this program is based.
Now, having said that, veterans do add a certain colour. I think that 30% of our staff within the office are veterans at various rank levels. They offer a different outlook on life to the young entry-level professionals who are on our staff.
They also have a certain degree of credibility when dealing with veterans, particularly problem veterans. There have been occasions within our organization where my staff have had me phone veterans and I have said to veterans, “If you behaved like that in the Canadian Forces, we would have thrown you out for being an administrative burden”. There's a joint responsibility here. No civilian can get away with that. So I think there's a blend.
I'd like to address the piece about education because it is a significant problem. Yes, there is priority afforded to Canadian Forces people who are medically released in terms of employment, but that education piece is sadly missing. It's an imperative at many levels of government, and the new Veterans Charter is sadly lacking in that. I've had young soldiers who aspire to obtain their Ph.D. so they can get involved in things like international relations and such, but who are offered a token two years towards a bachelor's degree. Then they're on their own.
We should be rewarding ambition and commitment, and for people coming out of the Canadian Forces, yes, that priority to public service is very important, but we should be setting the conditions whereby they can actually take advantage of it.