Mr. Bratina.
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.
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.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Thank you.
Mr. Feyko, first of all, thank you for your service. You were severely wounded in Afghanistan. Was that the reason you left the military?
4:05 p.m.
Maj Jason Feyko
Yes, sir. Eventually my injuries caught up to me, and I was medically released last summer.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
We've heard plenty of testimony from veterans that it was a difficult time for them and led to many of the problems that we're trying to get resolved. What would you say of your transition from being a soldier?
4:05 p.m.
Maj Jason Feyko
First, my injuries were in 2004, so they're a long time ago, before the creation of the joint personnel support unit and all of these programs that are available now. As one of the first in Afghanistan, I've seen full circle some of the services that are available now that weren't when I was injured. However, I have no complaints with my transition. I was very fortunate with my transition out. Losing that identity is the hardest part of leaving the Canadian Armed Forces. Some of the programs and the close integration that is starting to happen between the Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs is really helping it along and easing that movement through.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Were you part of that reconstruction scenario? I know our Hamilton soldiers were in Kandahar as part of a reconstruction.
4:05 p.m.
Maj Jason Feyko
No, I was in Kabul in the first Roto 0 in 2003-04, in the city.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
The sports and physical education is brilliant. It seems to me it is also a side effect of the organization, the coming together of these former soldiers. That's almost the main attribute of the whole program, bringing these people together again. Is that fair to say?
4:05 p.m.
Maj Jason Feyko
It is. A lot of the participants afterwards say that it wasn't about the hockey or it wasn't about the golf. It was about coming together and sharing those stories.
We always double up people in accommodations and it's surreal when they sit across and say, “I have this challenge. I have these nightmares” and the response is, “Oh, so do I. This is what I do to help. Maybe you should try it.” They start sharing some of those tricks and it goes a long way, and they stay connected for a long time.
4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
The emphasis on sports and physical education is great and you can see the obvious benefit of that. Are there any thoughts of expanding it to, say, arts and culture with guys playing in a band or something that will bring people together? Maybe they're not ready to play a game of golf anymore, or whatever.
4:05 p.m.
Maj Jason Feyko
There has been some, and perhaps the future will bring that, but at the moment our mandate is strictly sports and physical recreation.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Okay.
For our next guest now, thank you very much for your presentation, Laurie. Are there opportunities for veterans to be involved with MFS as employees?
4:10 p.m.
Director, Family Services, Military Family Services, Department of National Defence
Absolutely as employees, and one of the key pieces of our program is volunteerism. We rely on volunteers at the military family resource centres for the delivery of programs and services and for the peer support, so there's a camaraderie that they would have. The sense of identity extends to the families, and it's really important to be able to go somewhere familiar that they've experienced while they were still serving. So the veteran family program, the current pilot, has seen a huge increase in the number of volunteers who are coming back and giving back to the military family resource centres and the military family services program.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Are the services a work in progress? Is there a constant evaluation process?
4:10 p.m.
Director, Family Services, Military Family Services, Department of National Defence
There is constant evaluation not only from a local program perspective, but also, we've been studied by the ombudsman in the “On the Homefront” review in 2013, and our chief review services does significant reviews. We maintain performance measures on a quarterly basis to understand what the needs are of military families. We also conduct community needs assessments in each of the local communities so that we can understand exactly what families are saying their requirements so that we can adjust programming.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Mr. Feyko, what would you say about the evaluation process for your group?
4:10 p.m.
Maj Jason Feyko
After every event we ask for feedback from the participants and we always try to tweak the next camp to make improvements in moving forward.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Is there an equal ratio of females taking part in sports and physical education?
4:10 p.m.
Maj Jason Feyko
It's not equal for soldiers—
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
4:10 p.m.
Maj Jason Feyko
It's consistent within the ratio within the Canadian Air Force, definitely.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bob Bratina Liberal Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON
Are there a lot of ex-military involved with your program other than the people who are coming to access it?
4:10 p.m.
Maj Jason Feyko
As volunteers?