Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, committee members, and guests.
As we were introduced, my name is Mike Casault, and with me is my partner Abe Townsend. By way of introduction, both Abe and I are elected to the national executive of the staff relations representative program. The staff relations representative program is the official labour representation program, representing approximately 26,000 members. We are members of the RCMP, elected from and by the members of the RCMP to represent their interests on issues of employment that may affect their welfare and/or dignity. Though members of the RCMP, today we speak on behalf of the membership, and not the force as an organization.
Prior to becoming a member of the national executive in December 2011, I was the divisional staff relations representative, SRR. I was also the chair of the National Occupational Health and Safety Committee, which is part of the SRR program. I replaced Staff Sergeant Murray Brown, who presented at these meetings in the past.
In our roles as staff relations representatives, we quickly learn about Veterans Affairs Canada, because we represent members who suffer injuries during the course of their duties. Many times these injuries are very similar to those of our brothers and sisters in the Canadian Forces.
While the injuries may be similar, the working life of a member of the RCMP is much different from that of the members of the Canadian Forces. In Canada, most CF members are posted to bases in major centres. Members of the RCMP are posted from coast to coast to coast in communities small and large. Many of our members perform their duties with a minimal operational support and backup, at times hours away by plane or road. By their very nature, many of these small communities do not have VAC offices, or, for that matter, the community-based support we enjoy in our major centres.
SRRs routinely meet with those they represent in their places of work. It is an unfortunate reality that most of our members have little or no knowledge of VAC and the services offered. SRRs have endeavoured to carry the VAC message to the membership. We ask on behalf of our members, as clients receiving a service, what steps VAC has taken to deliver their message to our members. I see no VAC literature or pamphlets in the majority of the RCMP offices and detachments that I have visited. This is unacceptable. VAC must step up and create awareness of their programs.
I would like to spend a moment to speak about the VAC core service, that being transition interviews for those members being released from service. This service, in my understanding, has been available to all CF members for many years. It was only a few short years ago that this service was offered to RCMP members. It was a pilot project for the members posted in Saskatchewan. It was very well received by the retiring membership, and the service was expanded to include Atlantic Canada. Again, this service was appreciated by our members. As we roll the calendar ahead two years, today this core service has not been implemented for all members of the RCMP releasing from service to their country. Why not? Why are some of our members being left out?
We carry similar frustration around the issue of the veterans independence program and chronic care, programs available to CF members but not to members of the RCMP. Much has been written and much has been said over the past several years, but our members and our retired members do not have access to these programs.
More recently there have been instances of serving members in receipt of VAC awards finding themselves being taken out of a job that they love and placed on administrative duties because of the pensions they receive. A fear we have is that members may under-report so they do not sideline their career.
This leads us to our final comment on occupational stress injury social support, OSISS. It was recently learned that our operational stress injury program in the RCMP was being shelved and that members were not going to have access to the RCMP-designed OSI program, and I stress “RCMP-designed” program; they would have access to the OSISS clinics that the military provides to their members. Occupational stress injuries that a member of the Canadian Forces suffers from are different from those that RCMP members suffer from. Sure, there are some who would suffer from similar traumatic events, but policing injuries and military injuries in general are different.
In recent weeks I have spoken to several RCMP members who have utilized these clinics, and their concerns are that they are military-based, they are too far away for weekly meetings, and that cost is becoming a factor.
As mentioned before, we are not in the major centres. We are everywhere, and our members living in small towns in the north don't have the same access. That in itself is an issue. Do they self-identify, with a risk of being moved to a larger urban centre? Many of our members join the RCMP because they get to police small towns.
Last, I would like to draw this committee's attention to the stigma that is attached to members who are identified with occupational stress injuries and/or VAC awards. There are many examples of members who identify, only to find themselves on administrative duties. This is, again, causing our members to suffer in silence and not seek the help they need.
Before concluding my opening remarks, I’d like to thank the committee for the invitation and the opportunity to speak on behalf of the 26,000 members of the RCMP who are proudly serving Canadians.
Thanks, and I await questions.