Veterans Affairs committee  We've not heard this come out of our members. We have noticed that trend with our members who are accessing it. Partly our issue is that those OSI clinics are located in central areas. Our members are not located in central areas, so that's something that is causing issues for us.

Veterans Affairs committee  We have a lot of information on our out-facing website—we have a public website—but also we're working with our vets association. That's our key point of contact. When I spoke of the advice group, it's how to make sure as we go along that all our vets are able to find this information.

Veterans Affairs committee  We deal mainly with the member or the veteran. Notwithstanding that, many times it is possible to be involved with the family. We're looking at R2MR and the future state of R2MR. Once we get all of our front-line members trained, the next phase is on how we engage with the families.

Veterans Affairs committee  The mental health strategy has been really focused on our membership to start with, our serving police officers, only because we have to get that training out as quickly as we can. That's why we made it mandatory in that first phase. Stephen and I have had discussions, even as recently as this week, on how and when to reach out to families.

Veterans Affairs committee  Our mental health strategy?

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't think we ever leave. We retire and we're still all the same. We're considered part of one family. Even when our members leave, many of our people are still.... They step up to the plate as veterans.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'd have to ask our vets association for those stats. Our retirees will usually retire near their kids. I'm speaking for myself, probably; I wouldn't be able to tell you, but we have a sprinkling. We have a lot of people.... Our east coasters go back home. Many people seem to like Vancouver Island.

Veterans Affairs committee  —oh, an increase in claims?

Veterans Affairs committee  I think that as we are putting out our mental health strategy, and this is all anecdotal, you're telling people that this is a condition. You're telling people it's okay—and it is okay—to come forward and get some help. You're telling people more about it, about what's available out there.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll let my national mental health champion speak to that, if I may.

Veterans Affairs committee  —accommodate.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, we accommodate as much as we can. We do not have universality of service. We are in human rights. We do a lot of accommodations, either short-term or long-term. That's something we're constantly looking at, asking how we can better accommodate, how we can go forward on this.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, and that's one of the gaps we've noticed. What we've done in the last couple of years under Pierre's leadership is we have a liaison officer sitting with Veterans Affairs. We've been working on this outreach program trying to educate our members on how this works, that if they are going to apply to VAC, to set up a My VAC Account, and what that means.

Veterans Affairs committee  As to how many retire early, I can't give you the specific stats. I can tell you that the attrition rates for most of our female members—the average time at which they retire, unless it's changed—is after about 28 years' service. Our male members are going for 35 years. Contrary to the case with DND, our members usually go for the full service.