Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 16th, 2023

[Erin Copeland]

Personally speaking, some of the skills that I took that were directly transferable to the civilian and entrepreneurship world are organization and leadership. We're very well-equipped in the military, especially as officers. That, coupled with my trade as a logistics officer.... I took a lot of directly relevant skills, such as accounting and human resources.

For me, personally, a lot of my job skills in the military directly correlated to entrepreneurship. However, I think the leadership piece and the community piece are the pinpoint of the skill set that military people can offer entrepreneurship.

[Churence Rogers, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Thank you for that.

Mr. Riel, from your own experience as a veteran, and through helping other veterans, what kinds of changes do you think would help the transition back to civilian life? What are some of the changes they would need to be aware of?

[Guy Riel]

There's a lot of work to be done. We've taken care of our people, physically and mentally, with our systems, and all of the programs we have. There are sufficient elements there to be able to work freely, and engage a veteran from his active life back to the working life.

The Pendulum actually works with the service centre and transition unit in Valcartier. Basically, that's where we link up with the veterans.

We're trying to basically change the narrative that's out there. “If you're broken, you can't work.” That's not true. Our programs are adaptable. Our programs can ensure that our veterans can go back to work. For us, mental health is one of our biggest issues. Basically, sending back our kids to work.... I'm 52, I can't go back to work, but I'm still giving back to the community. Physically, I cannot sit in an office, or work in an office. I have to sleep every afternoon.

Also, we're working with entrepreneurs and companies here in the province of Quebec to make sure that they are truly veteran friendly. We have many rendezvous with doctors, with all of our programs—

[Churence Rogers, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Could I interrupt for a second?

From your perspective, what should we as a committee absolutely include when it comes to a national strategy for veteran employment?

[Guy Riel]

We need research and data on the programs. We need to know if our programs are truly working. Many programs are working, but we need to understand the ones that are broken, and those that are actually not really adapted to the new reality that our veterans are living right now. It's a brand new reality. My reality is not the same as that of a modern veteran. I'm from the 1990s. It's truly different.

It was simpler back in the 1990s to transfer our capabilities to civilian life. There's a knowledge base that is lost on who we are, and our worth in a working environment. It deals with the leadership we have, the structure we have, the organization skills we have, the management skills we have, and even the combat structure. I'm a combat guy, and I've managed many people.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much for your intervention, Mr. Riel.

I would now give the floor to Mr. Luc Desilets for the next six minutes.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank our guests for their presence and, if applicable, for their military service.

Mr. Riel, you alluded to something that I think is essential. You said that businesses should collect figures and compile statistics. I think that is essential, and it should be said more often. Things should be recorded. Self-criticism and self-assessment are important for businesses to get better. But above all that is how we can assess their relevance and effectiveness. So I thank you very much for mentioning this.

That was simply a comment, and not the preamble to a question.

Here is now my first question for you, Mr. Riel.

You have a site that contains a lot of information. It talks about training for peer helpers and mutual assistance officers. I find it very interesting. In this training, you talk about the five stages of recovery, in order to support peer helpers in creating their tool box.

Could you tell me a little bit more about this initiative?

[Guy Riel]

Yes, sure.

We realized that in the transition process it was very important to have a specialized peer helper. So we improved the programme. The five steps include the initial contact. These are the steps to create a future life plan. We help our members come up with a plan for their future lives and find new passions.

It is important to understand that throughout their career, say for 20 or 30 years, a soldier is told what to do. By the time he retires from military life and returns to civilian life, he no longer has his usual reference points, and this is what causes problems. For example, it is the Joint Personnel Support Unit that deals with the medical and administrative aspects. Everyone is managing the veterans and everything they do.

Our peer helpers receive training from us in mental health first aid, but we also have accountants, social workers, several officers and non-commissioned members working with us. These people have various expertise and had good careers in civil society. They come and work with us to help young veterans reintegrate into society and try to introduce them to new passions.

This is also what we do through our web show Some Vets at Night. We talk a lot about overall health, meet the community and talk about our inspiring entrepreneurs to give veterans a more exciting view of the labour market.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

You look passionate.

[Guy Riel]

I am.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

That is something we can see and feel.

Did you find your transition from military to civilian life difficult?

[Guy Riel]

I found it very difficult, Mr. Desilets.

I came out of the military system and went into a hybrid system. I had major injuries. You could say that there is not comparison between the services offered in the 1990s today's services. The conflict in Afghanistan has done a lot of good within the structure of Veterans Affairs Canada. Based on our expertise and our tactical analysis of the reality on the ground, my team and I can tell you that young veterans today have many assets to make a successful transition to civilian life. The main challenge at this time is to change society's attitude and portrayal of veterans.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Is the transition better? Are the military better equipped to deal with civilian life?

[Guy Riel]

Yes, but there will always be exceptions.

We have the transition unit and the military family resource centres, or MFRCs, at the local level. For our part, we work a lot with the Valcartier, Saint-Jean and Bagotville MFRCs. The MFRCs have excellent programs, but they are underfunded. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that MFRCs should be better funded. We should make sure we have a financial entity that really cares about us. We can give a lot on a volunteer basis. Our front line structure is made of volunteers, but that fades over time. Recruitment is more difficult, our community is aging and our young people are less inclined to volunteer. So we need a more structured framework within which our volunteers can work.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you.

My next question is for Mr. Booth.

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan over a year ago, and Canada had to quickly evacuate many people from the country, including women, opponents of the regime, and interpreters who supported the Canadian military while they were in Afghanistan.

I believe you were involved in the adaptation of the Afghan interpreters. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

[Nick Booth]

I don't have translation, so forgive me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

I'm sorry, Mr. Booth, but you have to choose the language at the bottom of your screen to be able to have translation.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Can you hear me, Mr. Booth?

Does he hear the interpretation?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Can you hear the English interpretation now?

[Nick Booth]

Yes, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you. I'm going to ask the member to repeat the question.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

It will be a pleasure.

Mr. Booth, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan a year and a half ago, and we know all the misery that Afghans have gone through on a daily basis since then. A lot of work has been done to get women and opponents of the system out of the country. There was also a major operation with Afghan interpreters, whom we wanted to help and get out of Afghanistan.

If I am not mistaken, you were involved in these efforts. Can you tell me about that?

[Nick Booth]

We were involved. We acted quickly to establish the Afghan resettlement fund. We recognized that once those interpreters and their families and others who'd supported the Canadian mission arrived in Canada, it was very important that they were helped to resettle here. We focused our efforts on the arrival post touching down in Canada. We've been looking at the role of veterans to support those Afghan families and veterans, because many of the veterans we spoke to felt disempowered in many ways, disengaged by what was going on in Afghanistan. To give them some agency back in the process, we mobilized veteran volunteers in support of the Afghan families.

We've been focusing our efforts on in-Canada support but very much using veterans to help reach out to either those they served alongside or others who supported the Canadian mission.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you.

Now I'd like to invite Ms. Rachel Blaney for six minutes, please.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you so much, Chair.

I thank all of the witnesses today, and of course a special thank you to those who gave such important service to our country.

I'm going to start with Ms. Kilgour.

First of all, I just want to say how much I enjoyed getting to know some of your colleagues when I had a meeting with them last year and I'm really impressed by the work that's done. I was also very happy to see that you were at Comox, at 19 Wing. That's the area I represent and I'm a big fan of all the folks who serve us there. That led me to think about the process you go through. Of course, if you were doing it at 19 Wing, I'm assuming people were in the time of transition but not all the way transitioned.

I'm just trying to get a clearer picture about when you start to work with people. Is it just wherever they are? Is there that pre-transition work?