National Defence committee  Strictly in the context of my own personal opinion as a researcher and spouse, and not as a DND employee, I think one thing that could dramatically change the way that dual spouses are able to handle military life—as well as increase recruitment from ethnic minorities and new Canadians—would be to reinstate having CAF establishments in our major cities, the way that we did prior to a variety of base closures in I believe the 1990s.

National Defence committee  I think it remains to be seen. As Dr. Okros said, people join the CAF for all sorts of different reasons. We did see a bump during the conflict in Afghanistan from people who really wanted to serve their country in particularly a combat way. I think we can expect there to be more awareness of the Canadian Armed Forces as a career, and if the anticipated procurement projects come into force, new kit is always an exciting thing that you can promote in recruiting ads and that sort of thing.

National Defence committee  I think so, and again I think my colleague Dr. Okros noted that, if you have people who can't, for example, deploy, then you are sort of taking billets from people who can deploy who might need, for family reasons, to have a rotation at home so that they're not at sea, for example.

National Defence committee  In terms of doing more to support veterans transitions, I think there are quite a few initiatives already. Particularly in the public service where I work now, there is a veterans hiring priority. I think perhaps more could be done to make people within the private service more aware of the skills that people in the CAF can bring.

National Defence committee  The difficulty with the post living differential is that the base rate is Ottawa. I think any of us who are experienced with the Ottawa real estate market know that it has experienced a tremendous growth in the past couple of years, so everything being tied to living in Ottawa doesn't actually address the cost of living in Ottawa.

National Defence committee  In the U.K. they do have more interaction with the schools, but I should note that across the country you will get very many visceral reactions, either positive or negative, to the idea that the military will be involved in your schools. You should probably recognize that there's no national answer.

National Defence committee  I'm not familiar enough with NATO countries more broadly. I can speak to a couple of countries that have invested in this differently in the context of their military service. For example, Israel has a program in which they have required military service. Because they are responsible for accepting basically all citizens, they have established military service for people who are neurodivergent, for example, people on the autistic spectrum, and have found a way to have meaningful involvement by neurodivergent people within their military.

National Defence committee  This is veering into current policy. I can say, as a researcher on this kind of issue, that more data is always better and disaggregated data is the gold standard. Knowing why it is women pilots above the rank of brigadier-general, for example, are leaving the forces, versus knowing why male privates with a Pakistani background are leaving, those are important data points.

National Defence committee  One of the fundamental issues is that there has been a change in the way that the housing provided by the military—when it is provided—is regarded as a taxable benefit under Treasury Board rules. Previously, the CAF was able to provide subsidized housing with a subsidy, but that was deemed a taxable benefit, which meant that CAF housing had to be offered at market rates.

National Defence committee  Thank you for that question. I will do my best to answer it, but with the caveat that it's extremely complex. I should note that there's a distinction between what you correctly identified as toxic masculinity and masculinity more generally, and also between toxic masculinity and men.

National Defence committee  As a researcher, of course I'm going to say that we need more research, but the answer is to figure out which parts of the traditional aspects of physical tests to differentiate between the combat roles are necessary, and which are kind of left over from a more traditional military evaluation of what it means to be a soldier.

National Defence committee  Yes, I was briefly in the reserves in the U.K. I personally wouldn't wish to join currently, but I welcome your questions that relate more to my professional research as well.

National Defence committee  My answer would be slightly different. Mine would be to start with a conversation with Canadians as a whole about what we see as the role of the Canadian Armed Forces going forward, and how we adapt that to what we foresee Canadians deciding going forward. Many of the challenges that the CAF faces currently—and, as you say, has faced for 15 to 20 years—are related to challenges that Canada as a whole faces in terms of who we are as a country, who we see as our allies, what we see as our history and what we see as our future.

National Defence committee  I hesitate to speak for him, but I think he would. He has had a very fulfilling career in spite of the ups and downs.

National Defence committee  I think I would as well, although I would acknowledge that it has been difficult. It has had an impact not only on my career but on our kids' lives. There's something to be said for seeing your spouse satisfied and happy in their work. For him, that's been in the navy. I don't think it's the only place he'd be happy, but if he said to me, “I wish to do it all over again”, I would support him.