First of all, thank you very much for inviting me here today. The subject I'm bringing forward is a complicated one. It has to do with the Canadian Forces transitional organization, the joint personnel support unit. The JPSU has gone through a hard time in development. It has been the focus of many studies lately, and it is currently under a big restructuring. This is of great concern to me because there are military families in that unit right now who are transitioning to civilian life, and because that unit is being restructured, I'm a little concerned whether they are getting the proper treatment.
In response to that, I've asked the military to give them an extension of the release date if they find it necessary to get their stuff together, so they can release with honour and respect. I first started asking about this in November. Up until this point, I have never heard anything back. I bring this to you, as the veterans affairs committee, to let you know that there may be people from the Canadian Forces who are not prepared to transition well.
With that, I'll get on with my prepared statement. This is rather broad based. It's about the JPSU, what it should be doing and what it's not doing right now.
The JPSU was intended to be the seamless conduit to civilian society for injured military families and, with that, from Canadian Armed Forces to Veterans Affairs services. This has been mentioned many times before in this committee as something that is desperately needed. Regrettably the JPSU, instead of being an efficient, consolidated support unit—or a one-stop shop as I heard it mentioned here—was poorly managed, and became ineffective, and is currently under review.
I mentioned the preceding because the JPSU remains the best means to consolidate the support and seamless transition we all desire for our military families. In the Veterans Affairs construct, transition becomes synonymous with VAC service delivery for injured or ill service members and their families.
Should such a time arrive, the service member may be facing many areas of transition. A physical injury can be a transition of mobility, capacity, and independence. A mental injury can be a transition of thought, outlook, and self. A catastrophic physical injury may include physical and mental health concerns, and a catastrophic mental injury may eventually impact physical health.
All of those cause a military family to a transition in structure, roles and relationships, finances, rhythm and goals, employment, quality of life and security, location, home, and friends. The transition from military society to civilian society is a big move. There is the transition from Canadian Armed Forces support to Veterans Affairs support, and with that Veterans Affairs services, and finally Veterans Affairs service delivery.
Addressing the issues of VAC service delivery becomes challenging without taking all the preceding transitions into the equation. For a transitioning military family, more times than not, the injury causing a release is a surprise event, and their lives have just taken an unexpected turn. This is a great deal for a family to cope with, and it is my submission that it is the exact wrong time to spring the enormity of Canadian Forces and Veterans Affairs support upon them.
It also puts Veterans Affairs planners in a highly reactive mode to best guess, on very short notice, the way to approach the injured family. While the ability to react is a fine attribute, it should never become a policy. To address the cause of reactivity, Veterans Affairs Canada must have an awareness of what is going on in military society. Veterans Affairs Canada must be proactive. This is a step toward the realization of the consolidated support, or one-stop shop, the JPSU could be.
When an injured service member is posted to the JPSU, they should be placed in one of two distinct streams based on their injury. One is a stream transitioning back to military duty, and the other to civilian life. Those transitioning back to the military will maintain a military posture throughout their rehabilitation and eventual return to duty. Those transitioning to civilian life will fall into a different stream designed to rehabilitate them and prepare them for civilian society and VAC support.
It’s in this stream that Veterans Affairs Canada should take a partnership as equals with the Canadian Armed Forces to ensure that the transition of the military families and military members goes smoothly. It is here where the Canadian Forces can provide benefits falling under their purview pre-release, and where Veterans Affairs Canada and the Canadian Forces can discuss the situation and the outcomes the family wants during the release process, and then post-release when VAC takes over. This would be synchronizing the two independent structures as one.
I realize that my speaking notes and my brief may appear to stray from direct VAC service delivery, but it’s difficult to effectively address service delivery while on a reactive footing. The information I have provided to the committee describes a proactive footing, allowing VAC, the Canadian Armed Forces, the military members, and their families to be well prepared, informed, and engaged years before an injury takes place.
Should an injury take place, the consolidated support with the one-stop shop will be available, as well as a well-structured, well-led joint personal support unit to support the transitioning military family and members, to provide VAC with a solid platform for strategic support.
Those are my comments.