National Defence committee  There's been lots of work through the American military. They've been looking at personal and family history of predisposition to mental illness as one of the factors. There's an effort under way at looking at the genetic profiles of these people. This is an ongoing area. We don't have the actual predictor for PTSD at this time.

National Defence committee  Thank you. Precisely.

National Defence committee  Resources depend upon interest. Until we can stimulate interest within the university to go in and tackle this as a significant Canadian problem, you're not going to have too many people applying. When I say people, I mean people at a senior level who are skilled in carrying out research and can be identified.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  My only experience has been the privilege of working at a veterans hospital. I graduated and I was doing a residence in internal medicine at Shaughnessy Hospital for veterans. I've read the history of Sunnybrook Hospital, and these are people the establishment wants to push away.

National Defence committee  For the record, we have to maintain them.

National Defence committee  I'm delighted to hear that she came here. I tried to keep her in Canada. I offered her a position, but I couldn't compete with the University of Pittsburgh. That's a key question: why are we losing good people? It's the money that the military in the United States is providing to support her work.

National Defence committee  You heard the answer.

National Defence committee  Yes, I think it's helpful. She wrote a seminal article earlier this year in the American Journal of Psychiatry, and I quoted from her that sleep disturbances are the hallmark of PTSD. There are very few of us who are looking at it. She is and I've been looking at it, but knowing the people in Pittsburgh, she's focusing on specific and traditional brainwave patterns.

National Defence committee  Thank you for that implication.

National Defence committee  That we've been told about.

National Defence committee  It's only what we've been told, and who's telling us? Do you know of someone you can go to and say, “Show me the work that you're doing to identify these people and how you are identifying them”? Remember, this is shameful to families. They don't want to tell. We should be tracking deaths of all vets.

National Defence committee  That's what this committee should ask. In what I said, I'm quoting the U.S. military. I don't know about this country. What I have been fed is, “Oh, it's not much of a problem here.” I don't know what the proof is.

National Defence committee  I'm not privileged to that information, but they seem to be able to get a hold of that, and they're referring to their data.

National Defence committee  Find out what the prevalence of these problems is. Let's mark them and demand information from those responsible to give us the information about homicide, dangerous behaviour to spouses and families, and intent to self-harm and those who successfully complete it. Maybe then, once you have someone accountable for it, you'll know.