Yes, certainly. I'd be pleased to address this.
A great deal has changed since 2009. In 2009 we were on the cusp of making decisions, particularly with DND, that have changed the landscape—we think very significantly—for the releasing member. So let me just summarize those. You've mentioned a number of different aspects, so I'll try to capture all of them in my response.
First of all, what we have committed to with DND is a much stronger harmonization between the two departments, and this shows up in many ways. At the very senior levels, there are quarterly meetings to discuss the programs and services of each department to make sure that as changes are occurring in one, they are well understood in the other, and that we link things up.
So if DND has a program, for instance, that supports a soldier returning from Afghanistan to stay mobile in his own home, perhaps, or supports him while he gets retraining, our work with DND has been to make a crosswalk between that program in DND and the same service in Veterans Affairs. So when the member releases and becomes a veteran and a client of Veterans Affairs Canada, the transition should be fairly seamless.
I mentioned the integrated personnel support centres. These are key to the story. I want to reinforce that. When the releasing member, at least six months before release, and often even earlier, gets notification that they will be releasing, they begin to work with a DND case manager. If they've had any issues—medical, psychosocial, etc.—they'll be assisted by DND during that transition. That precedes their eventual release.
At that time, we've made a commitment with DND to engage our VAC case managers with theirs so they get a good understanding of what this veteran's story is, what their needs are, and what their family's needs are, so that when they do release, it's not into an unknown situation. It's into a situation where they will already have met a person in Veterans Affairs Canada who can help them. That's part of that bridge. That happens primarily at the integrated personnel support centres, the IPSCs as we call them, but also at our district offices.
Since 2006 we have focused extensively on making sure that when they do release, if they are in need of any level of rehabilitation, they get the support they need. That can be one of three elements. It can be medical rehabilitation, so the support they're getting in DND will continue. It can be psychosocial, because sometimes there are other issues that are not physical—PTSD being a prime example. Or it can be vocational. You mentioned how a person makes a transition. They work first of all with DND, but then with VAC, to identify what their individual aptitudes and aspirations are and how their social network is going to support them. Where there are gaps and where they need support, our programs can assist them with the transition.
If they are not medically releasing, they have access to job search and resumé-writing tools as well as websites with job postings. So they get good support in that way. If they do have a medical issue that precludes them from perhaps picking up from their previous career, we will give them retraining.
It's an extensive program. It will see them through from beginning to end. If they leave our care and after a couple of years find they're having trouble, they can come back to our program. This is something in the new Veterans Charter that was not in place in the department before 2006.