Veterans Affairs committee  I was there when Mr. Parent coined the phrase “a veteran is a veteran”. I think we're at a point in time when we should start to say that a soldier is a soldier, a sailor is a sailor, and an aviator is an aviator. Why do we have classes of soldiers? In 2006 the Australian government decided to go parity across the board, where all soldiers—they went even so far as to include cadets—are covered.

Veterans Affairs committee  The product I talked about that I'll have ready in six to 10 weeks is going to look at all our allies and what they have available. First, as I think any member of the Canadian Armed Forces or a veteran would tell you, we need a Canadian solution. However, I don't think that fact precludes looking at best practices.

Veterans Affairs committee  As I mentioned earlier, General Vance has taken the JPSU structure and its management as one of his key deliverables. They are devolving some of the responsibility back down to the local commands. They are even going to up-rank the person in charge, which means that if the person was a major before, he will be a lieutenant-colonel or a colonel.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think the shortage is at about 8% to 10%. It's nothing new. There's been a gap in the staffing for the last several years. Two years ago, the first encounter I had as the ombudsman was in Halifax. I talked to the clinic there, and they were short seven members and had been for a few years.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think it's just straight-up capacity. Looking at the volume of what's going through the system currently, I think that to hang on and continue with the veterans once they've released is a straight-up capacity issue.

Veterans Affairs committee  As I mentioned, Veterans Affairs Canada has grosso modo 200,000 clients. For the most part, and I was the deputy ombudsman at Veterans Affairs, Veterans Affairs does a good job. It's not all 200,000 complaining every day. When I start to talk about those who slip through the cracks, it will be those who are waiting for adjudication because their file hasn't been digitized, or it has not been sent to Veterans Affairs Canada, or it's sent to Veterans Affairs Canada and it's not complete, or it's sent to Veterans Affairs Canada and in their first adjudication process they don't agree for some reason.

Veterans Affairs committee  To answer your question, families need more, but we need to think about what we want to do for the families and not just keep saying “and families”.

Veterans Affairs committee  Exactly.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's exactly the model we're headed toward. We believe that when the member receives his temporary medical category, an assessment should be done on whether there is an opportunity for that member to return to work or if they are going to be released. Contrary to what we may hear in the media, the Canadian Armed Forces, in my opinion, do an extremely good job with injured members.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's part of the issue. For example, if I could step back to the JPSU, Robyn has the actual numbers here, but we're about 30 positions shy. I think it's 23 case managers...?

Veterans Affairs committee  That's 27 nurse case managers, but there are also seven clerical positions that are empty. Those clerical positions are the oil that make the machine work. For every case manager I've had the opportunity to speak with, I have to say that without exception they are tremendous people, with empathy for what they're doing.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think it would be an excellent employment opportunity, considering if we're talking about those who have already released and gone through the process. They have an experience that hopefully none of us will ever have to face. I'll leave it at that. I believe that hiring veterans who have the knowledge and the capability is a tremendous boost to the veterans themselves.

Veterans Affairs committee  When I started with the department back in 2004—I shouldn't give this away—I was in charge of their records section, and we were talking about the digitization of records then. We're still talking about it now, 12 years later. If we go back to my opening statement when I talked about attribution of service, if the attribution of service was determined by the Canadian Armed Forces, there is actually no file transfer.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't have much insight on the numbers. I have the same awareness that you have. If we want to talk about helping veterans, I would say this: I don't know if any of us has a solution to prevent suicide, but I do believe we have the opportunity to remove as many obstacles in the environment as possible.

Veterans Affairs committee  When we talk about families, for me, families are a part of my constituency base. All members and their families, all former members and their families, all former cadets and their families—they're a large part of my constituency base and always of concern. The issue with families, for me, is that we hear all the time that we should do everything for the soldier and families, but what are we actually going to do for families?