I think there should be something prior to getting out so that the members to be able to take their UER—their unit employment record—and walk into an office over at the training building, as an example, and say, “I'd like all of this transcribed to show what I can do when I get out of the service on the civilian side.”
I have a one-inch binder. Every course I took in the military is in that binder. When I got my job with Shared Services Canada, the guy who was doing my thing asked, “Do you know how many courses you had on computer training?” I had listed them all on my resumé. I said, “No. I don't remember. I've been in an out of computers for years on aircraft, systems and stuff like that”. He said, “You've had 37 courses just on computer training alone”, and those certificates were in my book. As Mr. Tremblay said, they're not recognized on the outside, because they're military.
I took a three-month electronics course at the Saskatchewan Technical Institute back in the mid-1980s. There was a civilian instructor and a whole classroom of military people. They taught the exact same thing during their regular school year as they taught in the military. We walked out of there, and we never got one piece of paper from that institute telling us that in three months, we had just taken all the basic electronics that they teach in one year. We just took it, and it's not recognized anywhere. I get a diploma from the military. It has to be translated somewhere along the line.
It's the same thing with security clearances. I have the “secret” military security clearance. I've had it for 30-odd years. I go over to Shared Services to work for the same government—remember, I'm going to be working for the same government—yet my security clearance from DND does not translate over to the Shared Services civilian side of the house. All you had to do is walk the paper across the road, but they didn't do it. That's another time lag that could be incorporated. When the member is getting close to release, within six months he could walk into training with all of his UERs, start the process right away, and have it all done before he walks out that door. Once he walks out that door, all of the support he has is not there anymore. It's gone.