Veterans Affairs Committee on April 2nd, 2015

[Bryan Hayes, Conservative, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Well, I don't think they're going to be on salary for very much longer. I think their release is imminent and they've been told it's a five-month wait period.

[Phil Marcus]

By whom?

[Bryan Hayes, Conservative, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

That's a good question. You've answered my question in terms of where I need to go, so I'm very good with that.

[Cmdre Mark Watson]

Sir, could I just elaborate on one point?

[Bryan Hayes, Conservative, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Sure.

[Cmdre Mark Watson]

A lot of times people say they're looking for benefits. There is a difference between what Veterans Affairs offers and what we do. SISIP is insurance. They're very expeditious. There are very few layers.

[Bryan Hayes, Conservative, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Yes, this was specific to SISIP.

[Cmdre Mark Watson]

SISIP specific, we're very quick.

[Bryan Hayes, Conservative, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Very good.

Do you gentlemen have any recommendations in terms of improvements that you feel should be made to the SISIP system, the benefits system specific to your role, something that legislatively you feel would benefit veterans, that you feel we as members of Parliament should be bringing forward to make the system better?

[Phil Marcus]

SISIP specific, I can say that, based on the comments some of your colleagues have made so far today on the alignment of benefits, it is the government's responsibility to ensure that benefits are aligned. We would like to see that happen. Those things take time. They require Treasury Board oversight, TB submissions, government agreement, cost expenditures, and those things.

I'm confident it will happen over time, but that's a constant battle because you have different providers of different benefits, and you want to make sure that level of parity is maintained.

[Bryan Hayes, Conservative, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Does anybody want to add to that?

[Cmdre Mark Watson]

I'll add to it from my perspective. I'm just finishing my third year in this job. The support that our IPSCs are providing is the envy of many other western countries, I'll tell you that. When we talk about it, and when I talk to the people who are receiving the benefits, the number of accolades our staff get far outnumber any complaints. On the systems side, because it's so robust and able to respond so quickly, we get a lot of compliments as well.

I think that a lot of the time the only thing I can do is educate people on what our staff is doing on morale and for services, because they are providing great services out there. You do hear horror stories, but a lot of the time it has nothing to do with these people. It's something else in another realm.

[Bryan Hayes, Conservative, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Mr. Lizon, go ahead.

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to all of you for coming here and thank you for your service.

I have a follow-up to a question that my colleague asked about medical release, but I want to ask the question differently.

On the determination of medical release, I would assume—I don't know whether it's true or not because I'm not familiar with it—that the determination now is different from what it was for a person 50 years ago in the Canadian army who was deemed to have a medical release. The way the army has changed—the duties have changed and there's progress on the technology, etc.—probably makes it easier for people with certain injuries to keep serving if they choose to do so.

Can you comment on this? How has it changed? I've heard a Second World War story about a fighter pilot who lost both legs and eventually was able, with two artificial legs, to fly a plane on combat missions. Is there an effort made within the army so that if a person with serious injuries is determined to serve, he can serve?

[Col Gérard Blais]

Definitely. When somebody gets into the rehabilitation program while they're still serving, our first goal is to return them to duty. That is the very first thing we want to do. If there's any way we can retain the member, that's our objective.

The criteria do change regularly. Our health services constantly review literature. For example, two or three years ago, I believe, a revised chart was presented to the Armed Forces Council, and now, for heart treatments and other conditions that were once an automatic release, you can be retained in the forces, depending on what medicine you're taking and the severity of the condition.

This is constantly examined with regard to new medical practices, etc., to ensure that the benefit of the doubt goes to the member. Also, that's for the well-being of the Canadian Forces, because we want to keep our people.

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Thank you.

Second, in your presentation, you stated that you have 24 integrated personnel support centres employing 117 civilians and 199 military staff and housing spiritual support specialists, etc. Is that enough? I would assume that this is a demand-driven service that you provide. Therefore, at some point you may need more, or you may need less. How does it change? What flexibility do you have in hiring people if you need more services?

[Col Gérard Blais]

There's an ongoing review of the number of staff. At the moment, the chief of review services for the Department of National Defence is looking at the joint personnel support unit to examine the governance and the structure of the unit. Based on that, we are going to the program management board to look at the resources assigned to the unit and to determine if it's the right number, if more should be assigned, and if the manner in which we are organized should be different or not.

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

We've heard from many witnesses before now that there is an information gap between the services you provide for serving members and the services when they go through a transition period. They're not fully aware of what they are entitled to when they become clients of Veterans Affairs. Do you have any suggestions for how the system should improve so that those people leaving the Canadian Armed Forces are fully informed?

I don't know whether there's something that should happen after they are released. Sometimes, as you know, people don't really pay attention or full attention to what they are presented with, even if you have presentation sessions, because they're in a state of mind that makes them maybe not able to fully understand. Then, when they realize the situation they're in after they leave...maybe there is something that's missing there and they should be helped. Do you have any suggestions on how it should happen? We're always hearing from many witnesses and many groups about the information gap. How should we address it?

[Cmdre Mark Watson]

Communication marketing is extremely important to me. I think that we don't necessarily do enough of it, but we have done a lot more in the last couple of years than we ever have before.

First of all, we have SCAN, as you probably know, the second career assistance network. Before someone releases, we try to provide them all the information that's available, not only in DND but also in my NPF world and through Veterans Affairs and the Legion. We bring in all kinds of partners to explain this to people. They can go to these SCAN presentations. We encourage them to go to these five or 10 years before they're released in order to understand some of the ramifications of the support networks out there.

We have an ongoing relationship now with Veterans Affairs Canada, in which we are providing briefings to them on everything we offer to make sure they understand all the latest initiatives. In fact, in the last year and a half, we've gone to various places across Canada to brief all the reserves, the regular forces, and any veterans. I go to brief them, along with a staff of 30 or 40, and we take Veterans Affairs people along.

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Actually—

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Actually, your time is up.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

That's quite surprising, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Do I understand from the official opposition that they're vacating the next spot?