Veterans Affairs committee  I am going to steal some of the things I have heard in the environment. I will try not to take credit for them. There has been talk. You know, we have boot camp, the basic training for people coming in, and we spend all this time developing the type of soldier we want. However, going out, we get a SCAN seminar, a second career seminar, that lasts two or three days or maybe a week.

Veterans Affairs committee  I have a few very quick comments. There are certain things said here today that I think are of key importance. I think the attribution of service piece goes without saying. I really believe we need to have an adult conversation about that. Secondly, I say a soldier is a soldier.

Veterans Affairs committee  The answer is don't give us more of the same. I don't mean to be flip, but as Einstein said, to do the same over and over again and expect different results is a definition of insanity. The model has been built for 40, 50, 60 years. It's been built over that time with layer on layer.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm going to come down on this towards the middle of the road. I believe we need a concept like universality of service. General Vance has said it clearly and I support what he said, but I also believe that universality of service is a stumbling block, especially to anyone who is suffering an OSI.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's why I have my director general of operations with me.

Veterans Affairs committee  It keeps going back to access, access, access. It's no good to have a problem if there's no access to relief for that problem. Suicide hotlines are available in just about every community across the country. We do have the ability to interject into issues if there are compelling circumstances in which we feel there would be harm to the member or others.

Veterans Affairs committee  As long as you promise to give me top cover with my minister, I'll put this out there. If you have a member who is in a crisis moment, call our office. Get hold of us. We can bring resources to bear that you might find a little more difficult to get access to. If there is no other venue available to you, call the ombudsman's office, most definitely.

Veterans Affairs committee  We'll make sure you get that information, sir. We'll send it back to the committee.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, it's probably a question best left to my colleague Mr. Parent, the ombudsman for Veterans Affairs. However, I would say that if we talk about one standard, there should be one route of access. There should be one engagement. There should be one form to fill out. We need to get down to one.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't think it throws up barriers. If there are disciplinary issues or engagements between the chain of command and the member about this type of behaviour, I think it opens a door for us. It opens a door to start having a conversation along different lines. I believe the flavour on the ground is starting to change.

Veterans Affairs committee  Had you asked me this question a couple of years ago, I would have said yes. I think we were on our way at that point to building up a very robust area of substance addiction counsellors. However, what I understand has happened over the last 18 or 24 months or so is that there's been a reduction in those numbers.

Veterans Affairs committee  No. I think it was just that through whatever type of reduction, that just happened to be the position that was cut. Especially if they weren't staffed, it was very easy to cut them from the list. I haven't heard any concrete reason for doing that, other than that there will be another venue available.

Veterans Affairs committee  We've done a cursory look at what our allies have done, and it varies across the board. The U.K. has a very strong charitable arm wrapped around everything that goes on. The U.S., as we can read by the headlines, is struggling in some areas, doing good work in others. We are taking a collective view of all the best practices.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll be very careful how I answer the question.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's too late.