Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, also a fellow veteran and somebody who was foundational in starting the True Patriot Love organization, the Treble Victor Group, and others.
I am pleased to take part in this debate today on the care of our men and women in uniform, either active or retired. First, I would like to take a few moments to offer my sincere condolences to the families affected by these tragedies.
As a proud Canadian, I have great admiration, as well as profound appreciation, for the important contributions members of the Canadian Armed Forces bring to this country. I served for a number of years myself with an operational tour. I have watched many of my peers who served along with me and have observed some of the problems they have developed through operational tours, whether it be mental challenges or physical injuries. It has always been distressing to watch a comrade suffer after giving tremendous service to this country.
Unfortunately, in the last two months, we have seen the tragic news reports about members of our military forces committing suicide. This has affected me personally. I have known individuals, both military and civilian, including one fairly recently, who have taken their own lives. These incidents are exceptionally troubling.
We have a vested interest in our men and women in uniform, because they are our soldiers. They are our protectors. They not only defend us in places abroad but also protect our people in times of emergency or distress, as we have seen during floods and other emergencies in this country. I salute the courage and strength they demonstrate through all of the ordeals and all the tasks they take on willingly.
Mental health care for military personnel is a priority for the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, and of course, the Government of Canada. Much is being done in this area. There is a lot of research continuing to happen. There is better coordination among all departments. The minister has ordered it. He is working on a review of the system, and in fact, there is ongoing research at DRDC. What a lot of people do not realize is that Canada has world-class medical defence scientists working on the problem. A lot is being researched right now, including hormonal issues and sleep deprivation and some of the issues that increase the stress and damage from mental injuries.
The government has recently increased its annual investment in mental health for our service members, bringing the total to $50 million. These funds are being used to enhance the military's medical health program and to ensure a skilled and sustainable mental health workforce, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses, social workers, addictions councillors, and case managers. To ensure that military members are provided with the best possible care, the Canadian Armed Forces also conducts research in the areas of virtual reality, medication, and brain imagery and has made clinical advancements in the area of mental health treatment.
One of the areas that has done research, as I just mentioned, is DRDC. As the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence has noted, on the defence committee, the study into the care of the ill and injured is intensive and ongoing, and we look forward to seeing the results of that study at a future time.
Our forces also have a health promotion program called Strengthening the Forces. It offers suicide awareness and education training to promote mental fitness and to mitigate the incidence of mental health injuries. In fact, there have been a lot of aide-mémoires issued by the Canadian Armed Forces, which I think are absolutely brilliant pieces.
As a former commander myself, trying to make my soldiers aware and trying to make them able to self-identify when they are having problems is something that is critical to care. It is a leadership issue to stay on top of that. I did that as a CO, and I know that other COs are hugely concerned about their soldiers. Within unit lines, that communication is going back and forth all the time. Other leaders and peers have been instructed, and now understand, to watch for changes in patterns and for personality changes, not only in their families but at home and on the work site. They try to identify those problems early.
It is not a perfect system, but we attempt to do that, because sometimes the military culture, as it is, prevents self-identification, because a soldier, especially a combat soldier, never wants to be identified as weak. What we need to do is change the culture and the terminology around that, because it is okay to say, “I have a problem”.
A mental injury is the same as a physical injury. It just takes longer to percolate. We are seeing that with our allies abroad. We are working very closely with the Americans, the Brits, and others. They are having the same issues with their soldiers, especially the most recently returned from Afghanistan, because that particular deployment has seen intensive combat. The injuries do not always manifest themselves immediately. They can percolate for years. It is an injury nevertheless. This is something we have to pay very close attention to.
The goal of the Surgeon General's mental health strategy is to help prioritize the efforts of the Canadian Armed Forces. I just outlined some of them.
There is a booklet called Road to Mental Readiness and one called Road to Mental Readiness Aide Memoire, which I think is very well done, by the Canadian Forces.
The forces have received accolades from national and international health bodies for our mental health leadership and for the comprehensiveness of our system.
Is it all perfect? Absolutely not. We are finding out new things all the time, every day. This is something all armies around the world are experiencing, particularly at the end of an operational mission. We have to stay on top of this. We have to try to stay ahead of the curve. I know the minister has done an excellent job of trying to do that. He has demonstrated great leadership, not only in his own department but by reaching out to other departments to try to encourage co-operation and coordination so that everybody is on the same page. That is one of the issues.
Yes, sometimes there are disconnects between departments. Those disconnects are something we are working very hard to address and correct as soon as we find them.
Good health, and equally mental health, is fundamental to the effectiveness of any military force. Since the Canadian Armed Forces is a subset of Canadian society, its members' mental health reflects the status of Canadians in general.
It poses a greater burden on our health care system than all cancers combined. It is estimated that one in five Canadians will develop a mental illness. Every day, half a million Canadians are absent from work due to mental illness. This is something important to know. Yes, we have this going on in the military right now, which we are gravely concerned about. However, this is an issue that is widely felt in the civilian world as well.
I think I need to mention that often, Canadian Armed Forces veterans are hesitant to self-identify, because they do not want to be stigmatized. That is something else we have to address. We have to change the definition and the parameters around that stigmatization, which really does not exist. However, it exists in the minds of soldiers, who do not want to appear in any way, shape, or form, in their terminology, broken.
Tuesday we had Bell Let's Talk Day. If military members do not want to address an issue through the chain of command and need some assistance with advice and guidance, there are a lot of civilian lines they can also call to get some of that advice and guidance if they feel safer doing that.
I would urge all members to find, when they need it, some advice and guidance somewhere. There are a lot of vehicles available to them to do that, and it is critical that they do.
Studies have demonstrated that the overall prevalence of one or more mental illnesses in the Canadian Armed Forces is similar to that of the general population, as I said. I also said that we are working to address the stigma attached, which we hope to eliminate through communication, through information, and through the work of all members of this House.
Quite frankly, every member of this House is very concerned about this, and rightly so. Every member of this House is very concerned about the health and well-being of all of our soldiers, whether they are currently serving or are past their service time. It is important that we all note, and that Canadian armed forces personnel past and present understand, that this House is on their side and we are going to work very closely.
There is a lot to talk about here. We are going to continue to do that. It is crucial that we do, and it is crucial that we put all the moving parts together to ensure that the system that is capable of assisting our soldiers and making sure they achieve their optimal health is put in place. It is our responsibility to do so.
