Specifically related to the Medak Pocket, that was the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry battle group, and the senior medical officer for that battle group was my deputy base surgeon in Calgary. He and I established, after that operation, the first critical incident stress debriefing program for the armed forces for the western area of Canada, where the troops had come from. He had been there throughout the whole mission, including the Medak Pocket battle, and saw the development of the mental health problems that occurred, as well as the follow-on.
We had a fairly robust mental health program, or mental health clinical capability, in the armed forces at the time, but you'll recall that was right after the end of the Cold War, when we were expecting mass casualties in western Europe. We had not focused, to the extent that we have since in the last few decades, on mental health. There was the stigma that existed at the time and society declining to celebrate that particular operation. The attention and the resources available, the efforts to decrease stigma for the presentation of care, and the attitudes that existed even within the armed forces were nothing like they are today. We've gone light years beyond that now. I wouldn't say it was deplorable, but they did not have the mental health resources and the setting, ambience, and atmosphere that would have been best for the veterans of that particular battle. So some of them suffered quite intensely for a long time before getting adequate care.
Today, as I described in previous testimony, with the standard of care of screening and stigma reduction in the armed forces, and the programs that are available, even though they're not perfect, and even though occasionally there are still individuals who don't show up, or don't get the care they need.... In most cases, it's a result of self-stigma, where they simply decline to present for care.
We've come light years in the clinical mental health care, the non-clinical supports, and the atmosphere of almost the elimination of stigma. It's a countercultural change in the way mental health issues are perceived, partly because of General Dallaire's example, but also because of many other efforts to achieve where we are today.