To follow that presentation is going to be very difficult, but I'm presenting, actually, from a different perspective. I've tried to be a service provider to veterans, and people like Walter. I just want to talk about my experience going forward so that it may help other service providers.
My background is that I have an MBA, but I am also accredited in an area called logotherapy, which is based on Viktor Frankl's meaning base. I'm not sure if a lot of you are familiar with him, but he wrote probably the most famous book on that, Man's Search for Meaning. It was all about his experiences as a prisoner in some of the worst concentration camps in World War II. It talked about how if people had a sense of purpose, something to look forward to, they were able to survive the worst suffering. I've applied that theory as well. I've been a patient at the Mayo Clinic, and I've experienced the world's best case-management system, which puts our own medical system to shame. I used both of those combined to work with the homeless, single mothers, and also with people with severe mental health issues to get them employed.
Part of the committee that I created for those with severe mental health.... We had an integrated approach, so we had at least 10 or 12 organizations involved. The goal at the end was to absolutely work with the client to be able to move a client forward. I was asked by some of the veterans' case managers there to come and work for veterans. That's my background.
Going forward, I applied to what's called the MDC service delivery model. I don't know if you know of that. I hear a lot of talk in your meetings about the JPSU service stream. This is a separate service delivery stream. Multidisciplinary clinics, I think, is the long term for it. It's a great idea. What it does is it allows us to combine the medical and the psychosocial together, which I think is wonderful. That's similar to the JPSU site. What it does not allow, though, is employment. I think that's a critical aspect for going forward. Whether it's part-time, full-time, or even if it's unpaid, volunteer, it's critical, from my experience, that people have a reason to get up in the morning, to have some value to contribute.
I've been at this for two years. I went through the political stream first, and the politicians said that I was duplicating my service. I then went through the bureaucratic stream, and I was told that I couldn't do my service, which was to do that three-pronged approach, providing the medical, the psychosocial, and the employment, similar to the JPSU stream. They didn't allow it, and the reason that they didn't allow it—if you speak to the bureaucrats—is because the employment services are offered under the new Veterans Charter, and the MDC service agreement is provided under the old Veterans Charter.
Now, I found that interesting, because the old Veterans Charter obviously started many years ago. This new MDC agreement was started about three years ago, which is after you moved into the new Veterans Charter. So there's a little bit of confusion as to why you would set up a new funding stream based on an old charter that—I think I hear—you're trying to eliminate. That's one suggestion or thought I'd bring forward to the committee.
The second is that when you look at the employment services, they're being offered under the public works department. From what I gather, there's really not many criteria, because there are no outcome measures. I've heard that from the top. I've heard that from the bottom line and front line. I've also heard it sideways, from the ombudsman. So in terms of my question, when you choose to have a service agreement with employment agencies, if you're not basing it upon client results, why are you giving exclusive contracts to organizations that are not having to come back to you and prove their client results?
I hope I haven't confused you.
I looked at a Veterans Affairs report on rehabilitation that came out in December 2014, in which they measured how many of the veterans in the rehabilitation stage got jobs. The number had increased to 28%. So 28% of your total are the people who got jobs. That was an improvement from 20%.
To give you a standard, in the civilian population in Ontario now, employment contracts have about an 85% success rate. That to me is extremely high, but it's also looking at the fact that they keep those jobs for now six months as opposed to three months. In the civilian population we're looking at higher standards.
I hear around the table how some of you have had veteran experience. When I think back, I was ignorant when I started this. I was told by some veterans of how great the veterans are who got world-class training. Looking at the history of Vimy Ridge, I didn't know enough about the Canadian contribution. General Currie at that time told 40,000 of his troops the night of Vimy Ridge that each soldier had been given their purpose, information, and I believe a map. The importance of it was that each person had a purpose. They knew exactly what they were doing. It was the first time in history, I believe, any soldier, forget even Canadian, had been given this sheet.
The role of purpose, the role of feeling valued, is something that I think has been lost in a lot of these service providers. I think it's focused a lot on what we call performance measures. I have submitted to the committee a briefing that was all about an outcome-driven and meaning-based approach. It can be applied through the JPSU stream. When I first started, it could be applied as one stop, separate from and outside of the defence department and the veteran, but funded by the veterans department.
I'm not sure how far to go. I was expecting two minutes.
I'll just cut it off there.