Evidence of meeting #41 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was services.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis
Good afternoon, everybody. I'd like to call the meeting to order.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and a motion adopted on September 29, the committee is resuming its study of mental health and suicide prevention among veterans.
On our first panel, our witnesses are Laurie Ogilvie, director of family services, military family services; and Jason Feyko, senior manager, Soldier On.
Welcome, both of you.
We'll start with 10 minutes each, and we'll start with Jason.
Major Jason Feyko Senior Manager, Soldier On, Director, Casualty Support Management, Department of National Defence
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee.
I am Jason Feyko, the senior manager of Soldier On, a program of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear today to speak with you about Soldier On and how it can support ill and injured Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans.
My role is to lead and manage Soldier On and staff in order to deliver the best program possible to support ill and injured members through sport and physical recreation. Also, as a veteran member who was severely wounded while serving in Afghanistan, I can attest to the power that sport and physical activity can play in an individual's recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration.
Soldier On became a program in the Canadian Armed Forces in 2007 and is responsible for providing support and services to military personnel, either serving or retired, who sustained a physical and/or mental health illness or injury while serving, whether attributable to service or not.
The program is a highly visible and integral component of the commitment and priority of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces towards providing a comprehensive approach to the care of ill and injured members.
The objectives of the program include to facilitate, support, and integrate resources and opportunities for ill and injured members to fully and actively participate in physical, recreational, or sporting activities; to create awareness of Soldier On among ill and injured military personnel, other Canadian Armed Forces personnel, the general public, and corporations; and to investigate, foster, and enhance partnerships with Canadian organizations and allied nations offering relevant programs and services.
The Soldier On program has four key lines of operations to meet these objectives.
First, communications, outreach, and awareness are very important aspects of Soldier On. It is about raising awareness of available support under Soldier On through various means such as websites, articles, presentations, and social media. This awareness extends not only to the ill and injured community that is eligible for support, but also to Canadians who support Soldier On through sponsorship, fundraising, and donations.
Second, Soldier On conducts over 40 local, regional, national, and international camps annually that focus on sport and physical recreation activities. These range from fly-fishing to hockey, hiking, alpine skiing, and yoga. These camps serve as an introduction or a reintroduction to sports and opportunities, an important stepping stone for many ill and injured members. Not only do they provide a platform to learn new skills in a sport, but they also connect with ill and injured members in a safe and supportive environment. From our experience, this peer support not only endorses inspiration and motivation, but it also reinforces to ill and injured members that they are not alone in their recovery and that there are generous and dedicated Canadians who stand by them. They are not alone, as there are individuals across the country and across the world with similar situations, challenges, and circumstances.
Third, the most important focus area for Soldier On is “active for life”. This is centred on promoting a lifetime commitment to a healthy and active lifestyle. Once the member is inspired or motivated to use sport and physical recreation in his or her recovery, Soldier On has an equipment grant program to which individuals can apply for funds to offset the price of equipment and training to support that active lifestyle.
The last focus area is less populated. However, Soldier On supports those individuals who demonstrate the desire and the potential to compete at the high-performance level. This support is accomplished by working with respective national sports governing bodies to provide time and resources to optimize fitness preparation, sport-specific skill development, and performance. Typically these members transition to receive support from the national sport agencies and the teams they represent. To date Soldier On has supported a half-dozen individuals who competed at the national and international competitive levels.
Soldier On is funded through a combination of government-allocated public funding and the Soldier On fund, an official financial support program of the Canadian Armed Forces benefiting members, veterans, and their families under the support our troops program and the Canadian Forces morale and welfare services.
The Soldier On fund is the most direct way for Canadians to contribute to supporting the recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration of ill and injured members. The fund has disbursed more than $4 million for the purchase of sporting and recreation equipment, in addition to training and travel expenses for its members to participate in those local, regional, national, and international events.
Since its inception, Soldier On has assisted over 2,200 ill and injured members to overcome adversity, build confidence, and be motivated by participating in sport and other physically challenging activities. Soldier On is delivered in synchronization with, and is complementary to, other programs of the joint personnel support unit, the organization responsible for providing support and services, and delivering programs to ill and injured military personnel and their families, as well as supporting the families of deceased military personnel.
In accordance with their records, as of fiscal year 2015-16, 62% of Soldier On participants have been serving members. However, there's a noticeable shift with more and more veterans accessing the program. This is due to an increase in outreach and awareness, participants acting as ambassadors, and increasing Veterans Affairs integration through a partnership agreement signed in December 2015 between Veterans Affair Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces. This agreement formalizes and provides governance, guiding principles, and mutually agreed-upon specifications that define and assist the interdepartmental relationship regarding Soldier On.
Soldier On is more than just sport. The sailors, soldiers, airmen and airwomen who have participated in Soldier On activities come from different walks of life and experiences. They all have one common bond—their lives have changed. The esprit de corps is evident during the activities, around the hallways, the common areas, the bus rides, and the informal chats as they share their stories amongst one another, some visibly injured, others silently suffering. They come from Newfoundland, British Columbia, Canada's north, and everywhere in between. It doesn't take long to realize that they have another common thread: a shared perseverance to go on, to honour sacrifice, and to “soldier on”.
As I conclude my opening remarks, I offer a few testimonials from past Soldier On participants.
It is a wonderful experience just being out on the water, challenging myself with new skills, just being with veterans who understand mental health injuries and illnesses.
After the event I now realize how important the camp was to me. The mental and physical pains I have were pushed aside with all the sports. I didn't want to slow down; it was tiring, but it put me in a happy place.
Reconnecting with peers has been the best therapy I could have.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear, Mr. Chair. I would be pleased to respond to the committee's questions in time.
Laurie Ogilvie Director, Family Services, Military Family Services, Department of National Defence
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
My name is Laurie Ogilvie, and I'm the director of family services with the Canadian Forces morale and welfare services.
I would like to thank you for this opportunity to talk to you about what we do to support the Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans, and their families.
The Canadian Armed Forces maintains a strong support network for our military families. Today I would like to talk to you about one of those, the military family services program. In my role, I oversee the program. It was formally established 25 years ago. It exists to support families in mitigating the challenges associated with service life, such as geographical relocation, operational deployments, and the inherent risk of military operations.
The program is anchored in a model that promotes coordinated services for health and well-being of military families in their community. The military family services program is accessed through three key points: military family resource centres, the family information line, and CAFconnection.ca.
The family information line is a national 1-800 service for all military families, offering bilingual information, referral, and crisis support, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Counsellors provide immediate support during a crisis and help connect families with appropriate national and local resources.
CAFconnection.ca is a national information portal that provides information and resources for military members, veterans, and their families.
Lastly, the military family recourse centres are family-governed, provincially incorporated, not-for-profit organizations that are allocated funds through the Canadian Armed Forces for the delivery of the military family services program. The philosophical framework of the military family services program is “by families for families”, and by nature of their construct, the military family resource centres are best positioned to deliver programs and services to Canadian Armed Forces personnel; their parents, spouses, children, and relatives; families of the fallen; and medically releasing members and their families.
There are 32 military family resource centres in Canada, with additional service points in Europe and the U.S. These centres are in place to help families manage the uniqueness of the Canadian military life through various programs and services, in the areas of children and youth development and parenting support; personal development; community integration; prevention, support, and intervention; and family separation and reunion.
Military family resource centres are also local community ambassadors or navigators for military families. Their governance construct and mandate provide the operational flexibility to meet the unique needs of the Canadian Armed Forces' community, and adjust quickly as demographic and operational landscapes change. Though they may have many services in common, no two resource centres are exactly alike.
To establish some consistency for military families, military family services develops and oversees the policies and services of the military family services program, provides technical advice and guidance on service delivery, and monitors and evaluates the success of the program in meeting the unique needs of military families.
It is important to note that my organization, which is military family services, does not maintain a direct management authority for the military family resource centres. Rather, we're the stewards of the military family services program, and allocate $27 million annually to the military family resource centres for their provision of, either directly or through a community partnership, services that support military family needs in the areas of child care, mental health, education, employment, special needs, health care, second language training, deployment support, personal development, and community integration.
We also work very closely with Canadian Armed Forces' partners to address the emerging needs of families. In 2011, we partnered with the director of casualty support management to formalize supports for families following the illness, injury, or death of a serving member.
Military family services funded each military family resource centre to embed a family liaison officer within the local integrated personnel support centre. The family liaison officer provides a suite of services, including counselling, respite care, caregiving support, and community integration.
Also in 2011, military family services partnered with CFMAP for the expansion of long-term bereavement counselling for loved ones of fallen Canadian Forces personnel.
In 2015, to better support medically released Canadian Armed Forces members and their families, Veterans Affairs Canada invested $10 million in a four-year pilot program. The pilot program, entitled the veteran family program, connects medically released veterans and their families to the military family services program for two years from the date of release. It's available at seven military family resource centres for the medically released veterans and their families, and at all military family resource centres for families of still-serving members preparing for medical release.
Family awareness and accessibility of available services has always been a priority at military family services. The modern military family does not access services in person as much as it did when the program was established 25 years ago, and for that reason we have evolved in our approach.
We have expanded our online reach through programs such as My Voice, which is a secure facebook page for families to ask questions, express concerns, or connect with us. You're Not Alone is a collection of resources highlighting available mental health services and programs. The Mind's the Matter is an interactive online psycho-education program for children and caregivers of those with an operational stress injury. The operational stress injury resource for caregivers is an online self-directed resource designed for caregivers of families of Canadian Armed Forces members or veterans living with an operational stress injury. It is an expansive social media campaign.
While I've just provided a very quick overview of the military family services program, it does not begin to paint the full picture. Each family member who uses a program will have a different experience and will share different impressions of the usefulness, or not, of their interaction. This is exactly why we continually evolve and adjust based on the needs and requirements of military families and communities.
Our mandate of “by families for families” remains at the forefront of everything we do and why we do it. We continue to engage with families, listen to them, and provide them with the means to have a voice so that individual experiences can truly shape the program, which is meant to support their unique requirements.
As the chief of the defence staff noted, we know from personal experience as Canadian Armed Forces members how crucial it is to have the support of our families. Just as our families look after us, we need to take care of them.
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, thank you again for this opportunity and I'm happy to take any questions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis
Thank you.
We'll start off with a first round of questioning.
Mr. Kitchen.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you both for coming today. It's much appreciated, and learning more and more about your services is a tremendous benefit for us in how we can find ways to improve the lives of our veterans and our soldiers.
Jason, your organization is very dear to me, because I found through my life that being involved in a lot of sports has managed me through a lot of issues that I've gone through in my life. I find that in rebuilding my life, it's been very important. It's important for me to see that.
You haven't been around a great deal of time, but have you done any studies to see what sort of impact you've had in situations where you've been able to help, or not help?
Maj Jason Feyko
Yes, in 2016 we did a Canadian Forces research analysis on the impact of Soldier On, to tell us if we're meeting the mandate and to see where we can improve our services. We have done that. The communication aspect is where we can really improve our services as we reach out to more and more veterans.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
By “communication”, you mean communicating to our veterans to let them know more about the program?
Maj Jason Feyko
That's correct and we've come a long ways. We're seeing more veterans come to the program. So far this year it's about 55%—more veterans than serving members. But how do we reach those other veterans who might not be connected directly with Veterans Affairs or have all those different mediums that are out there? We're investigating that.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Hopefully, through the Invictus Games we will find that your program will actually start to see a little more growth, because of that identity and that communication to veterans across Canada.
Maj Jason Feyko
Yes, we have a team of 90 ill and injured athletes competing in this year's Invictus Games, and we see that as a great opportunity to inspire a nation of people to use sport in their recovery.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
One of the things we've heard a lot about as we look into mental illness and suicide prevention is the loss of identity. That seems to be a big issue, the loss of identity of a soldier once he leaves—whether it's because he wanted to leave, because he had to leave, or because of other circumstances. In your role, have you seen that and can you comment on where you've seen it?
Maj Jason Feyko
I can comment, and Soldier On is a unique program in that circumstance. When a member receives an illness or injury, they're really removed from that esprit de corps that they're used to. They miss the camaraderie and being with all the troops. Soldier On, through our camps, is maybe the first opportunity where they can come back into a collective group. From day one, at that meet-and-greet dinner, there's an instant bond.
They've all served their country, even if it's an allied country. They've all served their country proudly and they've all gone through something significant that has changed their lives. They all have different challenges and issues, but that bond is something to see. It's instant, the camaraderie that happens at a Soldier On event. It's a very important aspect of what we're doing.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
I can support that, because when I go fishing in Tisdale in northern Saskatchewan, it's an experience that you cannot ever lose. It's life-changing to be in that part of the world, so it's very bonding to see that.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
I appreciate everything you do, and thank you for doing it.
Laurie, I come from a military family and grew up as an army brat, so I know a lot of the issues or have experienced those over the years. Can you tell us where you are based, the actual locations of your program?
Director, Family Services, Military Family Services, Department of National Defence
We have 32 military family resource centres and they're co-located with the main base wings across the country. The veteran family program is currently being offered at seven locations. Those are Esquimalt, Edmonton, Shilo, Trenton, North Bay, Valcartier, and Halifax.
The 32 we have across the country are at every service point. We also have extensive outreach, so for communities like Moose Jaw, where there are families in Southport, we have outreach services there as well.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
I come from Saskatchewan, and when I talk about rural, I'm talking about big distances to go. In Saskatchewan we're used to travelling and our veterans are used to travelling long distances. How do you see expanding that? Can you see a model to expand that into areas of Canada in the Prairies and other parts where people have to travel for five or six hours to get places?
Director, Family Services, Military Family Services, Department of National Defence
Our main focus is not on necessarily setting up service points for face to face. We're finding that most military families and veteran families aren't looking for the direct face-to-face service but are looking for online services or looking to make a connection with people. Those are the services that we're really trying to expand. Through our CAFconnection.ca, through our family information line, and through each of the military family resource centres with very robust outreach programming, they're able to get in contact with families that won't or cannot drive for five or six hours to get face-to-face service.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Thank you.
I think my time is up, so I want to thank you both for coming. I appreciate that.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you both for coming.
Mr. Feyko, I'm very pleased to see that there is such initiative on this. I find that keeping fit is such an incredible part of maintaining not just physical health but mental health as well.
With regard to the activities that members undertake, there are expenses, equipment, travel, and this sort of thing. For veterans, are any of these expenses covered by the Veterans Affairs rehabilitation program?
Maj Jason Feyko
No, all the expenses are paid by donations to the Soldier On fund, which is a non-public fund.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Okay. Is there any government funding at all for the Soldier On fund?
Maj Jason Feyko
There is government funding for the administration of the program, some salaries, but the majority of the funding for our program delivery is from donations from Canadians and the Soldier On fund. We're restricted in our use of DND public funding; it is for serving members only.