Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 7th, 2025

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Is that research publicly available?

[Gabrielle Dupuis]

Yes, absolutely.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Okay. Thank you.

You also mentioned some research collaboration with Queen's University. Was that with CIMVHR?

[Gabrielle Dupuis]

Yes, the researcher that we work with is a member of CIMVHR.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Mr. Casey, maybe hold that thought. I apologize.

Ms. Gaudreau, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I want to make sure of something. The question I asked earlier was very specific, but there was an issue with the earpiece, so I'm not sure the witnesses understood it. I'll ask it again, so don't start the clock right now.

I know you have data and research from either yourself or McGill University on the effects of pet therapy, for example, or on some of the correlations between trauma and the increased need for support for veterans with more suicide attempts. I wish we could include all of that in our report.

I'm sorry to repeat myself, but based on the answers I received, I'm not sure you understood correctly.

I have just one question for you. What about the community and the deployment of all your services? I'm a Bloc Québécois member, so on behalf of the people listening to me right now, I'd like to know what the situation is with services for the people of Quebec and for certain unilingual francophones. Can you confirm that there are no concerns in Quebec and that you provide the same service there as elsewhere, in both official languages?

[Capt(N) (Ret’d) Philip Ralph]

I would love to answer your question. We have worked hard at Wounded Warriors Canada to ensure that all of our programs are available in both official languages. We've had slow uptake for people requesting programs in French. We have a number of qualified clinicians who are ready to run programs.

In general, every single one of the programs listed on our web page is available in both official languages, with the exception of our warrior kids programs, but we're working on that. Once we've trained clinicians whose first language is French, those programs will be available in French as well.

Every single program, from our surviving family program to our trauma resiliency programs to our couples program, is available in French and English. Our online offerings are now available in both languages as well.

[Fardous Hosseiny]

We're also a national organization, so of course, all of our resources are available in both official languages.

We work with partners in Quebec like Le Sentier, which should also be invited to this committee. We're also holding a round table with francophone veterans. Part of our mandate is to bring that community together, because their needs might be unique. We don't want to assume that what is happening with one population also applies to another population, so we are hosting a francophone veteran round table where we're going to gather that data and information.

To your earlier question, there are some gold-standard treatments that work, like prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy. There are some elements of peer support that have been shown to be quite beneficial.

Of course, when it comes to access, we need to promote more widely that these services are available, but some folks might not have access, which is an issue.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Is it the same for you, Ms. Blackburn?

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

I'm so sorry, Ms. Gaudreau, but your time is up. I've been very generous.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I can get an answer when I take the floor again. No problem.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Actually, I think this will be the last round, since we only have a few minutes left.

I will give the floor to Ms. Wagantall for three minutes. After that, to conclude, the Liberals will have three minutes.

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

Thank you so much for the extra time.

I appreciated what you were saying, Mr. Ralph, about how the training, even for those at Global Affairs before they go overseas, needs to be trauma-informed. That's for their benefit, I take it, with the circumstances they're going to be in. Is that correct?

[Capt(N) (Ret’d) Philip Ralph]

Yes. With the latest round of deployments, after the October 7, 2023, attacks, we trained the entire staff who went to Israel.

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

That's wonderful.

I'll open up this question to anyone who wants to answer. What do we do about trauma training for those who are going to be deployed within our armed forces? Is there anything that can be done?

I appreciate the challenge in that. I know they have to train to do what they need to do, but when they come home, do we reach out specifically, or should we be creating policies that say we will reach out specifically to those who end up deployed to combat zones? I keep hearing that we don't know where they are because of privacy and all these issues.

Do you agree with that, or should we be doing things more proactively?

[Capt(N) (Ret’d) Philip Ralph]

As much as you've heard that on the regular force side, 40% of everybody who was deployed to Afghanistan was a reservist, and nobody knows where they are. That's really—

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

It's very important.

[Capt(N) (Ret’d) Philip Ralph]

—important to me because I was a reservist and I am very proud of that service.

We also need to talk about prevention. There are organizations now, such as York Regional Police and the Toronto police, whose officers, before they even get into the car, have to take Wounded Warrior Canada's before operational stress program so they understand what they are going to be exposed to, what to look for and when to ask for help. We've given some organizations, such as the ranger patrol group in B.C., our trauma resiliency training so they can go out to the communities they go into.

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

I have very little time. I'm pleased to hear that.

Could Mr. Thorne respond? You're dealing with veterans who come back. Do you see opportunities to be more preventative in advance of them deploying, or at least responding immediately when they come back? Answer very briefly.

[Oliver Thorne]

Yes, absolutely. We still see the effects of deployment and military service causing operational stress injuries. That is a normal reaction to an abnormal event.

We know that people are going to be exposed to those risks when they do this job, so enhanced training and enhanced opportunities to learn about the effects of operational stress and how to recognize and mitigate them would be a very worthwhile investment. We see some work being done in the transition group within the Canadian Armed Forces. There's the road to mental readiness program.

We advocate as much as possible for more and more experiential programming with people, not PowerPoints. It is that connection and the experiential and personal components of this type of work that are so crucial to treating the effects of operational stress injuries and the risks of suicide.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much.

For the last three minutes, we have Mr. Clark.

[Braedon Clark, Liberal, Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank all the witnesses. I think this has been really informative, eye-opening and helpful for us. Thank you for that.

Captain Ralph, I want to touch on something that I asked witnesses about last week at committee. On an issue like this, how do you track the effectiveness of your program?

We talked about this last week, as I said. If a veteran doesn't commit suicide, which of course is the goal, it's hard to track something that didn't happen. How do you assess your program's effectiveness in helping veterans deal with the issues they may be dealing with? How do you track that?

[Capt(N) (Ret’d) Philip Ralph]

Every graduate of the program is given an anonymous survey administered by a third party—Nanos Research—that tracks whether or not they found the program helpful.

I assume the data from the public safety space would correlate to the veteran space as well, but I would say we've noticed that when people take programs at the right time, they're no longer going off.... They're returning to work and they're staying at work, because, as mentioned here, they want to do the work. It's purpose. I remember the first time that I put on my uniform, I was like, okay, this is important; this is something to be proud of, to a be part of. That purpose thing is really important. That's another little piece.

Do we have specific data on suicide reduction? No. Do we see an improvement in the lives, the carrying-on and the reintegrating into society of people who do take our programs? Absolutely.

[Braedon Clark, Liberal, Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS]

Over the course of an average year, how many veterans come through your programs?

[Capt(N) (Ret’d) Philip Ralph]

For all programs, I would say probably about 600.