Hi. First of all, I want to thank all my colleagues around the table. Thank you very much for the opportunity to participate in a very important discussion.
My name is Peter Stoffer. I chair the Veterans Legal Assistance Foundation, but I also have the honour and privilege of being in about 11 different veteran organizations as well.
What I find is that from the transition period of leaving the military into civilian life, a lot of veterans, military personnel and RCMP feel naked without that uniform for the first while. They really are a bit lost. Even though they may have had a good transition, they still feel part of that “get up and go” and want to do something for their country. I find that in many cases, a lot of these veterans, unfortunately, are injured. They have either post-traumatic stress disorder or operational stress injuries. They're finding it challenging to go back into the workplace.
I believe that one of the things that can be done prior to their leaving the military is to ensure that if a veteran is leaving on a 3B medical release, everything is done to basically instill in them that they have worth. They have value. They and their family can still be contributing members to our society. We need to assist them in finding gainful employment that not only puts food on the table but also is worthy of their service to Canada.
There are two organizations right now that I want to send a special hello and thank you to—Helmets to Hardhats and Commissionaires Nova Scotia and Canada. These two organizations truly understand what it's like to work with veterans and, just as importantly, their families, in order to transition veterans into gainful employment in that regard. Many veterans have very good skills, but if you were a stoker on a ship for many years, you may physically not be able to handle any kind of physical work outside of the military. You may have to transition into something else. This is where I believe DVA and DND can work with that veteran or that individual and their family to find something for them when they leave the service. I believe that would go a long way toward giving them back their dignity.
The other concern, too, that many folks need to be worried about is what I call “poaching”. A lot of companies out there are looking at well-trained military personnel and encouraging them, with various incentives, to leave the military early and join their particular company. In Nova Scotia, as you know, we have an awful lot of defence companies. I see the poaching that's going on. The Government of Canada and the taxpayers of Canada spend an awful lot of money training these wonderful individuals.
I encourage all of them: If you can, stay within the military for at least your 25-year service in order to get your pension in that regard and then move on to civilian life. If you have to leave earlier, then I believe transition and employment opportunities through DND and DVA in order to help you and your family would be the way to go.
At the same time, we have to be very careful about poaching and having people leave too early. Even though our defence companies are desperate for well-qualified people, our military also requires those individuals. It's a bit of a catch-22 in many ways. I would just encourage the committee, if they have a chance, to look at that and see what can be done in order to mitigate the early leaving of people who really would have a wonderful career in the service and then would join a company for various incentives in that regard.
Most importantly, I'd like to advise the committee, or at least ask the committee, to ensure that prospective employers understand what a veteran has gone through, especially those who are 3B released through post-traumatic stress disorder or through operational stress injuries. These prospective employers need to fully grasp and understand what the veteran and their family are going through and give them the best possible dignified landing they could have in order for them to be able to justify their new employment. I've seen many veterans who've left the military, gotten a job and within six months to a year have left that job. They simply couldn't handle it, or else the employer couldn't handle them. That's not good for anybody.
As a society, we need to do a lot better at ensuring that military members and RCMP officers who leave the service, whether it's of their own free will or through medical concerns, are treated well and offered the opportunity and dignity of a decent job in the future.
Thank you so much. I truly appreciate your time.