Veterans Affairs Committee on June 1st, 2023

[LGen Lise Bourgon]

Yes, it's the four lines of effort.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

That's right.

[LGen Lise Bourgon]

The four lines of effort were announced two years ago with the new women's health initiative. It's relatively recent, but budget 2022, I think....

Of course, my notes are not here.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

It's recent.

[LGen Lise Bourgon]

Yes, it's about two years old. It's $144 million over five years, with $31 million ongoing. This is, again, a big initiative.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Thank you. That was very helpful.

I have one more quick question. I have about 20 seconds.

The women who came to speak to us about the challenges they faced, which were severe and significant, talked about the gender-based analysis that was supposedly done but no report was provided.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

That answer will have to be quite quick, because we are at the end of the time.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

There's no report that they can refer to on the gender-based analysis.

[LGen Lise Bourgon]

I'm sorry, but on what report?

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

It's the report that every department is required to do as part of government, the gender-based analysis of your program and how it impacts women, gender—

[LGen Lise Bourgon]

I know that everything we submit now must have a gender-based analysis attached to it, any policies, any new federal—

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Is it available for people to see?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

We'll have to stop there.

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

I'm sorry, Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

I can appreciate it. If I was in your chair, I would be doing the exact same thing. We can only let it go so far, so maybe you'll get another chance.

We'll move now to Mr. Churence Rogers from the Liberal Party. He's online.

Churence, the floor is yours for the next five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As well, thanks to our witnesses for taking part in tonight's meeting and contributing to this very important study. I want to thank you for your service.

This could go to any member on the panel.

One of the major themes we've been hearing is on the transition piece, moving from military life to civilian life. We've heard many witnesses talk about this and the challenges they've had with it.

In order to make that more efficient and effective, maybe Lieutenant-General Bourgon could explain the transition process that CAF initiates and is offered when serving members leave the military to enter civilian life. If there are gaps, what are the gaps in the process that you feel may still need to be addressed to better position these vets for success post-service?

[LGen Lise Bourgon]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

This is an excellent question.

To my left, I have Commodore Bouchard, whose job it is to do transitions.

The CAF transition unit was born out of SSE in 2017. It's a jewel. We recognize the service of our military and we facilitate their transition. You can imagine, after removing the uniform after 35 years of service, it's like being naked. It's an adjustment.

The transition unit is doing fabulously, and I'll get Dan to go through the steps.

[Commodore Daniel Bouchard, Commander, Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group, Canadian Armed Forces, Department of National Defence]

Thank you for the question.

Indeed, in 2018, the transition group was stood up. As was just mentioned, it's a very stressful moment in someone's life when transitioning to being a civilian. We work closely with VAC to deliver personalized, professional and standardized services, either in casualty support or transition services, to the members but also their families. We do that with a variety of partners that are co-located with us in our transition centres.

I understand that you were briefed earlier in the sessions by Colonel Lisa Noonan, who touched a little on the transition centres and the services. Essentially, we oversee.... A transition adviser is assigned to somebody who is transitioning. They make a transition plan over seven domains of well-being, whether that be a sense of purpose, finances, health, social integration, life skills, housing and physical conditions, or cultural and social environment.

It's a team approach to making sure that the CAF members who are transitioning to veteran and civilian life will have a good plan to ensure that there are no gaps. Veterans Affairs Canada is embedded with us at our transition centres.

I need to caveat that by July, 75% of our transition centres will be established. At this time, we expect to be at full operational capability by April 2024.

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

Thank you very much. I appreciate that information.

From some of the previous witnesses, we heard some pretty heart-wrenching stories in the initial stage, when women became members of the military in the first 10, 15 or 20 years.

I ask you this question. What mechanisms do women, who may be experiencing abuse, harassment or discrimination while in uniform, have to ensure that their voices and their experiences are being heard and acted upon by superiors in a manner that is fair and compassionate to them?

Again, any member of the committee who wants to jump in on that question may do so.

[LGen Lise Bourgon]

Thank you very much. That's a very valid question.

The stand-up of professional conduct in culture is really formalizing all the tools, because it is multi-faceted. It's having trust in your chain of command. It's having trust and justice. It's having trust in the military police investigating. There are a whole bunch of things that come into the establishment of that trust, reporting along with the different mechanisms.

General Carignan would be the best one to talk about this but, again, there's not one solution because every victim's needs are different. We need to ensure that we allow every individual to do something they're comfortable in doing. They can approach our chaplain because they feel better, approach their chain of command, approach the medical side, approach the military police or call the sexual misconduct...the SMSRC. I'm getting confused with the acronym because we've just changed it.

There's a multitude of ways to connect and to report. That is a game-changer, because people are more comfortable. They have that trust that they will be listened to, that they will be believed and that justice will take its toll.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

Thank you for that.

That concludes that intervention.

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

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

Thank you, Mr. Rogers.

Mr. Desilets, you now have the floor for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Since my time is short, I would ask for short answers.

Mr. Bouchard, you're an expert on transition. I'd like your perceptions or your reading of what the transition from the Canadian Armed Forces to civilian life is really like. Is it easy? What are the challenges? What needs to be done?

[Cmdre Daniel Bouchard]

Thank you for that excellent question. I'd say that it really depends on the individual. That's why the process now calls for face-to-face meetings with family members.

This includes a transition counsellor to help the family through the process and to fully understand the individual's challenges.

It's really about making a plan that covers seven different areas. This ensures the well-being of individuals and that they are ready to make that transition to civilian life, whether it's retirement or a return to the workforce. It's really a personalized approach.