Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen, the last time I appeared before this committee was in February of this year. My preparation for today's exchange brought to mind the study you are undertaking with respect to the red tape initiative. I find this encouraging because in my area of endeavour, system efficiency means system responsiveness, something I care about. I gather from your focus on responsiveness that we are very much on the same page.
There is no doubt in my mind that a reduction in red tape and in the number of levels of approval will enable us to get faster results for the clients we all care about. This streamlining for a more timely provision of support and services to our ill and injured personnel is great news and a welcome sign of progress.
As Chief of Military Personnel, I set the priorities that orient the personnel strategies of the Canadian Forces and their related operations. This year, my priorities are the following: the ill and the injured; mental health; and the modernization of individual training and education.
Over the last four years, I have been increasingly reminded of the need for the Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs Canada not only to understand each other's culture, but also to enhance their capacity to jointly serve veterans and military personnel.
It is up to us to ensure that all initiatives and policies for the ill and injured, and in support of mental health, are jointly developed by our two institutions so as to provide Canada's men and women in uniform with a seamless transition to their new pursuits and their new lives. The Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs Canada serve the same group of great men and women. They just do it at different times in their careers and in their lives.
It is clear that the Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs form a family. Our commitment to Canadian Forces personnel, to the Government of Canada, and to Canadians who care about their military compatriots holds strong.
Since 1997, the Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs Canada organizations have variously strengthened their working relationship. So it was that each embedded a liaison officer with the other's organization. From 1998 on, those officers have represented their home organization and served as advisors on programs, services, legislation, and on a range of challenges that Canadian Forces personnel and veterans must contend with. The liaison officer concept is a most effective channel of communication between the Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs Canada.
In 1999 the CF-VAC steering committee was established in response to the recommendations of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs report, released in October 1998. This report would in fact guide the implementation of the steering committee for the next two years, according to its initial goal of improving the quality of life of Canadian Forces personnel and Canadian veterans.
The committee achieved its goal by providing an overarching governance structure for the deployment of CF and VAC initiatives along with strategic direction and guidance for all CF-VAC committees and working groups. It was on February 1, 1999, that the first steering committee would take place.
The original objectives of the steering committee were to support the Government of Canada's vision for the Canadian Forces, which consists in recognizing the contributions, sacrifices and achievements of Canadian Forces personnel, veterans and their families, by meeting their evolving needs through harmonized programs and services to enable their seamless transition.
Our programs for the ill and injured military members who require assistance during reintegration are part of this objective. Our provision of continuous support during the sometimes demanding release process, which leads from military to civilian life, is also part of it.
In December 2010, our collective drive for continuous business improvements in the service of military personnel brought us to revise the steering committee's terms of reference so that we would more effectively follow the principles of governance. The new terms of reference focused more closely on decision-making and the setting of goals and priorities with concrete deliverables and clearly defined responsibilities. The aim of this revision was to channel the work of the steering committee members along the lines of their areas of responsibility and thus generate concrete outcomes for programs and services while strengthening the joint CF-VAC capacity to serve the constituencies that they oversee.
We took care to commit to an ongoing review protocol that would include the revision of the terms of reference. In this manner, as the needs of our clients changed, the steering committee was able to remain responsive to them.
In November 2011, Veterans Affairs Canada witnessed a significant shift take place, in that it now has a client base preponderantly made up of serving personnel and modern-day veterans rather than World War II and Korean War veterans. The steering committee discussed this change, so that in September 2012, we undertook another review of the steering committee's terms of reference. The resulting document will be completed, approved and signed for the next steering committee meeting in December 2012.
The CF-VAC steering committee reports directly to the VAC deputy minister and to the Chief of the Defence Staff through their respective co-chairs, those being VAC's ADM for service delivery and me as the chief of military personnel.
As a decision-making body that was established to strengthen the working relationship between VAC and the CF, the steering committee continues to provide strategic direction and oversee VAC and CF initiatives that affect their clienteles of VAC and the Canadian Forces.
The committee consists of two co-chairs and a forum of 12 senior leaders who come from both organizations and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
These institutions are represented by senior leaders and directors whose mandates includes the care of veterans, ill and injured and deceased CF personnel, and their families.
The committee members are constantly seeking ways to improve services and to ensure that the committee's decisions are relevant and support Canadian Forces personnel and veterans who are ill or injured, or who require assistance during their transition period.
The steering committee meets twice a year—once in Charlottetown and once in Ottawa. The agenda we establish is reflective of the progress that has been made, and the program and service developments of our respective organizations.
I submit to you that the CF-VAC steering committee is indeed a successful partnership and a model of collaboration that benefits our diverse and deserving clientele of military personnel and veterans.
My colleague, and someone who I often refer to as my “professional cousin”, Mr. Hillier of Veterans Affairs, will speak to the joint priorities established between the Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs and some of the other accomplishments that stem from the exchanges of the steering committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.