I want to start by first thanking the chair and the committee for giving me this opportunity to speak.
My name is Carly Arkell, as introduced, and I'm a retired major.
I need to apologize. I don't have a prepared statement in advance. I have a few challenges in writing using a computer, so I'll provide a little information this way.
Just to give a bit of background on who I am, I joined the Canadian Armed Forces, the naval reserve, at HMCS Tecumseh in Calgary when I was 17 and served with the naval reserve for two years prior to switching to the regular force, becoming an aerospace engineering officer and serving there for just over 20 years before being released in January of 2021.
To understand the experiences of a woman veteran, it's important to understand where we come from and how we got here. To give some context, because context is vital, throughout my career I had some health challenges, but nothing major: a sprained ankle here and a minor issue there. Unfortunately, in 2016 I had a sports injury while doing unit fitness training. We were doing burpees, and I slipped. Unfortunately, I had some injuries but I didn't realize the extent of them because I didn't present with typical symptoms, particularly stiffness.
In subsequent years, my health deteriorated, and because things didn't fit the standard typical template, I was dismissed and was told that it was all in my head, that I wasn't trying, that I was lazy, I was out of shape. I was not out of shape—I'm out of shape now. I don't know why things changed in how I was treated, but the change point happened in 2016, which was a year after I reported being sexually assaulted.
I had always been taken seriously prior to that, but after that, everything was blamed on my mental health. Admittedly, my mental health did deteriorate in those years following the sports injury, in large part because of the experience I had in dealing with the health care system in the military. That led to a lot of distrust of health care providers, and now, because of the complexity of my condition, I have a lot of difficulty accessing care because I'm told that I'm too complex.
To give some context with that, six months prior to my release, I was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. I had no idea I had it and never would have known if I hadn't had an injury. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to serve, because if we had known about it, I never would have been able to join. I was fine as long as I was fit and healthy and basically held together by my muscles.
The struggle I have now is that I can't access care. I have an amazing family doctor, and she's willing to take me on as a complex patient. However, I have a lot of issues, and because I don't have coverage from Veterans Affairs for a lot of things, it's expensive. Sometimes I can't even get accepted into clinics. I've been turned down numerous times and have been told that I am too complex.
As I mentioned, my mental health did deteriorate with that. While I was in the service, I was unknowingly diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and asked to be reassessed, and when I was, I was told that I had adjustment disorder, which I thought was a load of something, but there was nothing else I could do about it. Once I was released, my Veterans Affairs case manager referred me to the OSI clinic, where I was assessed and diagnosed with PTSD, dating back to 2008, halfway through my career. I held myself together quite literally with my muscles and held my mental health together by being excessively busy.
To wrap it up, this has impacted every aspect of my life. Many of you have noticed prior to the committee starting that I have a few friends here who have come to support me and the other witnesses. I require a lot of help. I don't get out of the house, not because I don't want to but because I struggle to. I have to adapt and overcome, because I have no other choice. I have two children, and they need me. I have the ability to get through the day or be a good mom or fight the system, and I can't do all of that at once.
Thank you.