National Defence committee  Yes. In order to get the civilian doctors to work for us we've had to offer fairly good salaries. But the salaries are so attractive that when there is a position available, we've had military doctors retire so they can get that position.

National Defence committee  Generally, sir, I think we have seen an improvement in terms of people coming forward to seek help for mental health problems. Specifically, with respect to the deployment coming back to Valcartier, it is way too early to have all the information on that. We won't have that for at least six to maybe nine months after they've returned, so that we have the opportunity to do the post-deployment screening at that point.

National Defence committee  Yes, sir. In and around 2003-04, we had 229 mental health care professionals in the military. That included military and civilian psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses, and addiction specialists. With the approval of the mental health initiative, we have increased that to 321 providers now, and we are working towards bringing that up to 447 mental health care professionals in 2009.

National Defence committee  The problem of stigma regarding mental health illness is a common one, I believe, in our Canadian society, and it's the same in the military. We've done a lot to try to destigmatize mental illness and to create an awareness of it. Some of the things we've done include a series of intentionally overlapping strategies to help people understand mental illness and to help people who have mental illness come forward for assistance.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. I am Colonel Allan Darch, the medical advisor to the Chief of the Land Staff. I'd like to briefly explain my background and the roles and responsibilities of my current position. I feel that it's important to note that I do not have a direct role in mental health care, and I do not work specifically on occupational stress injuries or on PTSD.