National Defence committee  No, it's never been the case.

National Defence committee  In that we augment the navy, I believe we are contributing to the broad spectrum of the national defence continental defence role just by virtue of how we augment the navy in its various roles. Reservists are also working in the MSOCs, the marine security operations centres, so they are contributing to the whole-of-government defence and security picture as well.

National Defence committee  It's strictly navy to navy at this point, yes.

National Defence committee  No, not with the Americans. However, there are NATO connections—not specifically navy, but at the chief reserve level.

National Defence committee  Not at this time. Traditionally, the level of training they have to do to qualify to become a submariner and to retain those skills has not been available to reservists. There's no plan at this time to change that.

National Defence committee  Yes, there are. Canadian naval reservists support NATO missions indirectly, obviously, and an example right now is that of the reservists sailing in HMCS St. John's. More directly, they can also be in support of some of the NATO reserve working groups as well. For example, our chief of reserves will be leading a study in NATO for pre-deployment best practices of reservists.

National Defence committee  It's from the Canadian Armed Forces all the way down. There are initiatives that we're doing at every level within the Canadian Armed Forces.

National Defence committee  I'm not sure I understand your question.

National Defence committee  We're certainly not being constrained. If we have opportunities at the local level to reach out more to cultural communities, absolutely....

National Defence committee  I think we're going with the mindset that there's a whole spectrum of great employment, and officers typically have to be degreed or at least students who are in a degree program. It's certainly not exclusive. It's whatever type of work challenge will appeal to an individual.

National Defence committee  It's probably weighted evenly across the board. Some occupations are full and some are not, both in the officer cadres and in the non-commissioned members cadres.

National Defence committee  We do have recruits who are coming in, and we talk predominantly about students, but in fact we are recruiting folks who are beyond their student years. Folks like that would still have to go through the basic training process and occupational training, because that's what they would need to be employed at sea in whatever occupation they would choose.

National Defence committee  I think overall that is exactly the type of question that's being examined through the compensation and benefits review overall. Certainly for a part-time job, the benefits in particular that are offered through the reserve employment of any reserve are really substantial and an attraction for some folks who want to join.

National Defence committee  I think it is definitely a great initiative to be able to ensure that the part-time reservists are able to have the periodic assessments done as well. There was an initiative under way within the health services that was meant to be rolled out very soon, but I'm not sure of the status of it at this time.

National Defence committee  I think that's an interesting question. That's the type of question that has to have a lot of analysis, which I certainly don't have knowledge of, and it may well be part of the compensation and benefits review. I'm not sure.