Government Operations committee  There are a number of responses. A number of programs were available through Canada Company that helped, at the time, to get people like me, some of my directors, down onto the bases and wings, to mentor and to coach. That was a tremendous way of getting information out there, and getting people face time with the individuals who will be hiring.

Government Operations committee  I don't have the numbers in front of me, in terms of how many of the ill and injured members are coming back into the department. That's something that we could likely follow up with you on. Certainly, just reviewing the statistics before this committee, back in 2017-18, which was the last time statistics were available, at least recently, the military members who were transitioning made up between 40% and 50% of the hiring that the Department of National Defence did.

Government Operations committee  Right now, the objective of the transition group that they're trialing at this point in time is six months. Part of the purpose of the trial is to try to understand, on average, what would be a good time period for members to transition. I do agree with Mr. Dalton, though, that it simply can't start at the end of your career, even if it's six months, a year or whatever.

Government Operations committee  I'm actually going to talk about what I believe has been done right, and that is to accept that we've worked a lot on recruitment into the forces. We work a lot, obviously, to get people ready and build their careers. We haven't been working as well on the transition part to becoming a veteran.

Government Operations committee  In terms of service attribution, as I said, that has been given to Veterans Affairs to adjudicate, so that is the decision of the government. In fact, what I also referenced was how we are making that process easier. The armed forces and Veterans Affairs are working much more closely now on various issues to make that process easier.

Government Operations committee  One part of the process where we hope to see improvement—and we both recommended this to the department—is that all the benefits, all the adjudication that's necessary, should be done before the veterans release so that ultimately those delays that we're seeing now should be reduced to almost zero.

Government Operations committee  It has yet to be implemented. That is one initiative that's within the transition group's program right now, but they have yet to implement that. We should see that later on in their plan.

Government Operations committee  Yes. In years past, groups like Canada Company had awards, annual awards to promote and market those companies that were doing superb jobs at hiring veterans, promoting the hiring of veterans, all of that. That is another tool in the tool box that can get at making not only the private sector but also the public sector more aware of the value of veterans.

Government Operations committee  I've already mentioned one of the creative solutions in terms of a skills translator that would provide information for both hiring managers, veterans or military members. The other one we talked about was the idea that, as soon as people are given the decision that they will be released, we should not wait the six months it takes for the final release.

Government Operations committee  I will answer your question. In my experience, it is not about hiring managers' deciding that, because they are military members, they don't want to hire them. That is not my experience. My experience is that there is truly a lack of awareness, particularly among those who have not had reserve time, regular force time or a large amount of exposure to military members.

Government Operations committee  I haven't looked into it that deeply as to whether it's a contracting or procurement option. There certainly have been some initiatives within the federal government to try to create that system for us. The one that's available now, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, simply translates the military code into a civilian code.

Government Operations committee  For last part of your question, I can't say. I don't believe it is. Mr. Dalton and I have said in our remarks that, more than anything, it is a lack of awareness of what military members do in their day-to-day jobs and the types of skills that they obtain throughout their careers that are not simply in a code or in a job description.

Government Operations committee  It would definitely be one of the tools that would help, not only to educate hiring managers about what's available in the military but also to help military members understand the huge amount of opportunity that their skills could translate into in the civilian world.

Government Operations committee  I will comment on my experience. I can't comment on the whole public service and what every public service manager is doing. In my—

Government Operations committee  I'll touch a bit on what Mr. Dalton said as one of the recommendations, because I think that's very important. The delays are caused by the time it takes to adjudicate. If it's a medically releasing member, it's in the realm of Veterans Affairs. That takes time. One of the processes that I think has a huge amount of possibility of reducing that time for delays is in having almost real-time access to medical information on the member that can easily pass back and forth between CAF and Veterans Affairs to make that adjudication and make it easier to accomplish.