Evidence of meeting #44 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 military.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for being here and helping to support our study into issues around mental health and suicide.
Captain Langlois, you talked about working with VAC to enhance programs and simplify paperwork. I wonder if you could give an example of some of the limitations you might have run into at JPSU in regard to that goal. Is there something that is preventing you from achieving what you want, or are things going well?
Capt(N) Marie-France Langlois
There are many fronts that CAF is working on with Veterans Affairs.
A good example of a program is the skills translator. When a CAF member is transitioning out, often the military skills are hard to translate into a civilian occupation. Right now CAF is working very closely with ESDC and Veterans Affairs to build a portal that is a translator. It's called MOC to NOC, so military occupation to national occupation. This is quite exciting, because this portal is going to grow, and we're looking at it eventually linking up into an education piece, into educational institutions. This is the work that is currently being done.
There is already skills translation on the ESDC site, but this is something we want to do. If you go on the CAF site or you go on the ESDC site or you go on VAC, they're all linked together. That's a tool that will assist the CAF member to transition, so that's a good example of the work we're doing.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
We heard testimony from a number of veterans that they feel as though they've been stripped of their identity, that they've literally been pushed out of the military, and they have feelings of abandonment.
Do you think this skills translator will help them to connect to a new sense of identity, or connect to a feeling of being needed again? I suppose it comes down to being needed, being valued.
Capt(N) Marie-France Langlois
It's going to be a tool not only for transition but also for recruiting and for retention.
If somebody is in a specific occupation and knows how it translates to civilian life then he can, at the beginning of his career, maybe pursue more education in that field. So yes, with regard to identity, for sure I believe it's going to enhance it.
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Thank you.
Commodore, you talked about shifting the culture. Is there something more in regard to that military culture that you could talk about that is preventing it from living up to this potential to successfully help the veterans who are transitioning out?
Cmdre Sean Cantelon
That's a challenging question for me to answer because I think if I had the key I'd be brilliant.
I've been in the military for 34 years and I have seen dramatic changes in culture and how we approach a wide range of activities. Our culture, as it does everywhere, reflects our society.
The chief has been very clear about the activities not in our military, and very open as well. Obviously it started with General Dallaire, but we've had serving officers at very senior levels and very senior NCOs, which is extremely critical, come out and speak about the challenges of transition and the challenges with things like mental health or physical recuperation.
That's what I mean by an open-culture shift, because previously those were private conversations involving only two or three people, and now they're becoming more open. I think that's the best thing we can do. As the leaders of today's Canadian Forces, we're taking our leadership responsibilities and trying to change that culture so we don't get to that sense of alienation and loss of identity.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
We've heard a great deal of late about opioids and addictions connected to opioids. I have the sense that a lot of our veterans are being prescribed opioids. Do you have any concerns about the prescribing of opioids? I know they're intended to be painkillers, but would other medication be preferable? They're extremely addictive, and they seem to play a role in well-being and mental health.
Cmdre Sean Cantelon
I'm not a doctor, and I'm not the surgeon general, so it's not in my area of expertise. I would point out what Captain Langlois said. At the JPSU, we know the prognosis, in other words what the outcomes will be for the individual. We don't have an idea of their prescriptions or medications, or the specific medical limitations. We're focused on who they are.
Cmdre Sean Cantelon
That's between them and their doctor in a medical capacity, which is how I understood the question.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Because very often there are very strong connections between how someone is adapting and preparing for life on the outside and these underlying issues, I wondered if you had a sense of any correlation. Obviously not.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Thank you both very much for coming today and sharing this information with us.
You mentioned an average of approximately 10,000 who transition out of the Canadian Armed Forces every year, and about 16% of those are medically released. Do we know how many of that number are released with mental health challenges?
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
One of the things that was mentioned was—and I totally agree, and we've touched on this in our service delivery report, which was tabled back in December—better aligning and harmonizing the CAF and VAC programs to ensure transition to civilian life is as seamless as possible. What does that mean to you? What are the challenges right now?
Captain Langlois, you touched on closing the seam, which is important. Especially for morale and services programs, what do you see being done right now to help make that transition easier?
Cmdre Sean Cantelon
That's one of the real flexibilities we have in the morale and welfare services. We operate under the non-public fund framework, which allows the CDS to provide services both to members and their families. That includes when they become veterans. Our programs, such as the Canadian Forces health identification card, which gets them discounts—we work with industry—is seamless between being a service member and a veteran. You stay in that program for life and your family stays in that. That's an example where we're closing the gap, where we can, between the day you have your uniform on and the next day you get up and it's something you used to wear to work.
There are many activities like that where we're working very hard so that, the day after, you carry forward and have a very smooth transition. We touched on that, and the JPSU's example is the vocational rehab I spoke about. That program starts prior to your release so that, as you take off your uniform and you're now a vet, you're still working with the same vocational person you started with in uniform. That's a seamless piece. That's an example where we don't have a gap.
There are other ones we're working to address with our colleagues in Veterans Affairs. Some proposals are coming forward that I can't speak about, but they will address many of those gaps.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
With regard to morale and welfare services, are you somehow currently monitoring or tracking morale on some scale within the Canadian Armed Forces? If so, how are you doing that?
Cmdre Sean Cantelon
We do a community needs survey, not just of service members but their families—families in the wide definition—and veterans. We've just finished collecting the data, and are now in the process of processing the data and what it means. I don't have that version available for release, but I'll go back and we'll provide the clerk with the most recent one, which showed how we're meeting their needs.
The question of their morale is more complex. It's a bunch of services. That's how we do it. It's about how we can best meet their needs so that we can adjust our services.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Does it entail mental health services in any way, or asking questions along those lines?
Cmdre Sean Cantelon
It asks questions along the lines of, what are your primary stressors? What are the quality of life factors? You could then deduce capacities in regard to programs that would address mental health.
It doesn't to my knowledge...but there may in fact be a question. I had better watch myself on that.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
That's fair enough, but if you could provide that information, that would be helpful.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
With regard to SISIP, the member can receive income support up to 24 months. If they're unable to find a job or return to work, they may apply.
Can you help me understand exactly what determination goes into how long they get that SISIP assistance for?
Cmdre Sean Cantelon
Absolutely.
Every member of the Canadian Forces, since 1982, has been mandated into the long-term disability plan through SISIP. This is a government-provided plan. They also have the option for other SISIP products for optional life insurance.
If they're medically released or they apply for non-medical release for a medical condition, that disability plan guarantees them two years' worth of income, up to a maximum of 75% of their previous income. It's adjusted if they have a pension, as per any disability plan in society, and the same with the rest of our federal government colleagues
In that two-year period, they go through vocational rehab through SISIP. If they stay on that plan, it's based upon whether or not they're determined to be totally and permanently incapacitated. We have individuals who've been on that plan for in excess of 20 years. That plan carries forward as long as the need is there. That's the macro piece.
Their application is once going in—you asked about that—and they're enrolled. It's kind of a one-stop shop. They'll do that at the JPSU, because once there are medical conditions, they'll apply it. It's managed administratively through SISIP Financial, and the insurer is Manulife that provides the service.
