Mr. Chair, honourable members of the committee, I have the pleasure of co‑chairing the City of Ottawa Veterans Task Force, which is tasked by city council with building bridges between the community and organizations in the national capital that provide services to our veterans.
When Canadian Forces members decide to transition to civilian life, they still have many more productive years to offer. Having a meaningful job has always been an important part of the transition. It's vital to understand that former military personnel have different motivations for seeking out a second career. What motivates veterans transitioning to civilian life isn't salary, rewards and benefits, but rather their desire to accomplish the mission and create a positive impact within their work environment. When a veteran becomes a member of a work team, the concept of serving remains a top priority.
Within the community of employers, there continue to be certain stigmas when it comes to seeing veterans as future employees, all of them related to the idea that veterans struggle with mental health problems. Some employers also seem to underestimate the importance of the skills acquired through military experience and training.
However, veterans also harbour certain perceptions and believe certain stigmas about employers. For example, a veteran may act with the belief that employers don't understand veterans, because they may believe that employers have a negative perception of military service and veterans as candidates for a job. These perceptions pose barriers to employment for the veteran and to recruitment for the employer.
One barrier that has contributed to fuelling stigma about veterans is the lack of dialogue between the ecosystem of support for veterans and employers, particularly those in the private sector. I believe that the next steps should involve bridging the gap between the veteran community and all industry sectors in order to address urban legends among both employers and transitioning veterans and gain a better understanding of their impact on the candidate-recruiter relationship. This type of dialogue would provide a foundation to help build productive long-term relationships between the military community and employers.
Within our task force, a number of initiatives have been developed to ensure that human resources departments apply recruitment strategies that recognize the needs and assets of veterans and are also involved in the process of preparing our veterans for the transition to a second career. These kinds of initiatives will inspire a change in culture, not only by preparing veterans for the transition by communicating information, but also by influencing recruitment strategies.
Watching the committee's meetings last week, I was very surprised to learn that relatively few veterans are employed in the federal public service. But what really shocked me was hearing that only 4% of the federal employees who provide services directly to the military community are veterans themselves. That tells me we have our work cut out for us.
In conclusion, the Canadian Armed Forces transition units have made tremendous progress over the past few years, because they've been able to professionalize their delivery of transition services. These services are now provided based on evidence, such as the domains of well-being.
In terms of all the aspects of the transition, particularly access to employment, we have proven that communities like the city of Ottawa can play a role in bringing people together and fostering partnerships based on productive ongoing dialogue. We will continue to build bridges between the employers operating in our community and the ecosystem of support for veterans.
Thank you.