Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to all members of the committee for inviting me to testify on this important study for women veterans.
I joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1990 at the age of 17, as one of the first women to join the combat arms in an effort to increase the number of women in service. Needless to say, our presence in the infantry was not welcome. As soon as I joined the forces, I had to work harder than any man just to be treated as their equal. In this very homogeneous male world, I shed my femininity to make room for the identity of being a soldier and gain respect.
I would like to mention that at the time, the harassment guidelines were not yet very developed, which kept the environment very toxic for us women. From the beginning and throughout my career of 26 years, I was subjected to misconduct by men. In the beginning, it was to make me give up, but later on it was to appropriate my body—from verbal harassment to touching to forced kissing by superiors. It was also the invasion of my private life as a way to force me to accept the unacceptable. However, I consider myself lucky: I am not one of those who was raped.
This introduction is important, because it represents the often forgotten reality of women veterans. This is in addition to other suffering that may be more predominant, such as psychological or physical injuries.
For my part, I live with both. I developed post-traumatic stress disorder following my mission in Afghanistan and I believed my chronic pain was directly linked to it. However, I realized that I had been abusing my body for a long time to perform and maintain my hard-earned position. For example, when I joined the forces, I had to accept boots that were too big for me and equipment that was inadequate for my size. I had to overtrain despite injuries and hide my physical pain so as not to be judged or rejected by my team. All this was because we had to succeed in the mission. We had a duty to “push through the pain”.
That being said, suffering in silence in order to perform becomes a huge barrier to seeking help. I am one of the many women who learned to keep our hurt, abuse and suffering quiet in order to gain respect as a military member—but what happens when our careers are forced to an end that we did not choose, and our wounds, whether physical or psychological, become symbols of the end?
I believe it is important to consider that this transition to civilian life is not without its challenges for women veterans, because in addition to coming out, they must also face justification that they are also wounded veterans and they deserve respect. It also becomes crucial to realize that it is impossible to address chronic pain without exploring the underlying suffering that is experienced in a career as a woman in the forces.
Once again, Mr. Chairman and members of this committee, I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to testify before you. I sincerely believe it is important to consider that the needs of female veterans differ from those of men and that the response to chronic pain must be adapted and allied to that for psychological pain.
I will now turn the floor over to Dr. Joy MacDermid.