National Defence committee  This becomes then the issue of who is best positioned to have oversight over different departments. In this case, it's the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence. I think we are well positioned to provide that oversight. Are there better means of doing that

National Defence committee  We have access to all the information required to follow up on our recommendations. That's the reason we have progress reports. One of the differences I always talk about with my audiences is the difference between us and the Auditor General. The Auditor General does the same ty

National Defence committee  I will answer in English, because of the technical nature of the question. Yes, our recommendation still stands. It was accepted by the government. All benefits and services should be in place before they are medically released. They are not there yet. Part of the issue, as we

National Defence committee  On the latter part of your question, absolutely. If the medical documentation is not full and complete, it doesn't talk about the reasons for the injury and things like that, then the adjudication becomes slower. They have to find other information. They may have to look through

National Defence committee  Certainly. Since we haven't provided it to the minister just yet, we'll cover a few of the findings but not the recommendations. In that regard, the systemic investigation, which we have just completed and are just about to provide to the minister, was for the purpose of looking

National Defence committee  The minister will probably receive it within a couple of weeks.

National Defence committee  It's an excellent question. It is one that we've already studied and made a recommendation on, in this case. It makes sense that the people who are treating you, who have knowledge of the military environment in which you work—the same as a company—will examine you and are curren

National Defence committee  On the first element of it, to reiterate what I just said, essentially the earlier that service attribution of an injury is made before they release from the Canadian Armed Forces, the better and the more efficient the adjudication would be in VAC. What we've recommended before a

National Defence committee  I couldn't really comment on that. I think that question would be better for the surgeon general in terms of how they might find that transfer of documentation. I don't think we have received any complaints in that regard that I know of.

National Defence committee  Very quickly.

National Defence committee  I could take probably the whole hour to do that, but what I'll do is hand it to Ms. Hynes to take you through those steps and some very general things. We can also forward information to you in written format afterwards, to give you some of that detail.

National Defence committee  Absolutely.

National Defence committee  I have one more paragraph. Additionally—this is me personally—I have made it my mission before the end of my term to try to bring resolution to the many issues and challenges facing military families. The proper treatment of families weighs significantly on our ability to recrui

National Defence committee  Thank you. Good morning, committee members. Thank you very much for inviting me to discuss this important topic. There have been many studies on individual or collective aspects of the military-to-civilian transition, access to health care and barriers to accessing benefits and

National Defence committee  It's a very difficult one for us to answer. The commander of military personnel would be the best person to answer that type of question. Certainly, in the types of requests for information we get, or in complaints, we definitely see areas.... We will generally receive the ones