Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for inviting me here today to speak about my experiences in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I want to stress that I am in no way speaking for the RCMP as an organization. I am appearing here as an individual and as a veteran.
As you may or may not be aware, in 1974 I was a member of the first class of women to join and graduate from the RCMP as a regular member. Although born in Nova Scotia, I spent most of my 33 years in the force in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ottawa. The first 12 years of my service were spent doing operational police work, with responsibilities ranging from general duty uniform work to serious crimes—including homicides and drug investigations—and also a fair amount of undercover work, which included criminal investigations, Immigration Act violations and cell plants.
I worked in small, medium and large-sized detachments, primarily in British Columbia, until I went to law school in 1986. After law school, my trajectory and my responsibilities were more focused on the management side of the force. I was commissioned in 1992, as the first female commissioned officer in the RCMP, and became the first commanding officer of a province, Saskatchewan, and later British Columbia. I retired as the 21st commissioner of the RCMP in 2007.
I understand the focus and goals of this study are, of course, about veterans. More specifically, I believe you are seeking to hear from witnesses who experienced impacts due to the intersection of women in a male-dominated career—i.e., the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP—and the interventions of Veterans Affairs.
I am sorry—or should I say I'm happy—that I have very little to offer from that particular perspective. In my 33 years in the force, I had not personally sought the assistance of Veterans Affairs. Perhaps I should have. I had seen more than my fair share of sexual assault victims, dead and injured children and murder scenes, and had attended many very stressful calls, especially in my first 15 years of my career, when I often worked alone. From a personal perspective, I cannot claim to have been sexually harassed, although in the first couple of years I have to admit that my sense of humour was tested more than once. I had the privilege, first to work with and then to lead, many of the most decent, exemplary people one might want to know. I understand that this was not the case for all female members in the force, but I cannot personally comment in that regard.
In my preparation for this meeting today, I watched the last meeting of your committee, held on October 19, with the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, Minister Petitpas Taylor, appearing with officials from her department. I was struck by the fact that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was not mentioned once by either her or any of the members of this committee during her testimony. This is in spite of the fact that the RCMP was in active service overseas in the South African War, the First World War, the Second World War and many UN peacekeeping missions—including missions to Kosovo, Haiti and Afghanistan. The cenotaph in Regina and the monuments here in Ottawa hold the names of many who died in these conflicts that continue to this day.
Veterans Affairs is responsible for on-duty related medical and mental health issues for those serving in Canada as well. They also, of course, administer our pension, which has, unfortunately, made veterans of the force subject to the “gold digger” legislation, which affects both male and female members married after 60. I know many of these people, and I consider it an archaic and misogynistic law.
The only contact I had with VAC, as a regular serving member, was when they were the service provider for RCMP medical and dental care and prescriptions, which was primarily an accounting and reimbursement function. Today, I understand, the experience is not as streamlined, as the RCMP is now subject to the governing rules of provincial jurisdictions for their medical treatments. This, I believe, is not ideal, but I have no personal experience to offer since my retirement happened approximately 16 years ago.
As a veteran of the RCMP, I am now with the public service health care plan administered by Canada Life, and we all know the complaints of delays and bureaucracy that are attached to that transition.
Injuries incurred on duty are treated differently, and if a disability from an on-duty injury can be proven, a disability pension and certain benefits arise. I believe that this is still managed by VAC. Anecdotally, I do not believe it is an efficient or client-focused process as it relates to the RCMP. From my perspective, the RCMP does not have the same connections to Veterans Affairs as the Canadian Armed Forces, and the link seems to be getting weaker. Unless one is the recipient of a disability pension tied to an on-duty injury, veterans of the RCMP, beyond this caveat, to my knowledge, are not subject to outreach from Veterans Affairs.
Thank you for calling me to appear here today, and I hope I can be helpful in your study.