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Veterans Affairs committee I had no predecessor. These were experts in using marijuana for medical purposes.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee I do not know what the comparison is. I'm sorry.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee Yes, I am presenting at that meeting on Wednesday. It's the mental health advisory group of the Minister of Veterans Affairs.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee Let me answer that question. We do a great deal. We do a great deal in Veterans Affairs Canada. As I said, from 2000, on the whole issue of suicide, even though, as I said before, there are challenges for our knowing about suicides in the veteran population, we have worked on putting many things into place, both for suicide prevention and for getting people access to mental health care.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee You know—and Elizabeth said this—we really believe that one suicide is too many, but I think that if you look at any population, you can see that suicide does occur. Will we ever be able to prevent every single suicide? I don't know, but that's what we're working towards.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee I'm sorry. I need you to repeat your question about what Veterans Affairs Canada has done.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee It's certainly one of the things we know contributes. Therefore, it's something on which, if we make an effort, we know that it will be helpful.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee In the last year, Veterans Affairs Canada has been working on updating our mental health strategy. As well, we are currently developing a joint suicide prevention strategy with the Canadian Armed Forces—we're working together on this. We are doing so in part because we want to pay special attention to that transition period to make sure that we are covering people when they need the support the most, so that they don't fall through the cracks.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee There are a few answers to that question. First of all, with regard to the people who we know are exiting the military with a known mental health problem for which they've been receiving treatment, we're pretty good already at making sure we do that warm handover from one organization to the other.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee Do you mind if I add something?
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee I think one of our concerns always with the issue of deployment and that tight relationship being made between deployment and suicide is that it makes it possible. We always fear that those who commit suicide and never deployed get lost in that picture. It's an over-simplistic picture, because for sure there are the MPTSRs that Elizabeth talks about.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee The first thing I'll say is that the factors that lead to what I call that “suicide pathway” are similar for veterans and for any member of the general Canadian population. The first factor is that almost all people—90% or more—likely have a mental health problem at the time they commit suicide.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee I'm sure part of it is in response to that. Several years ago, a look was taken at Veterans Affairs Canada, which had devolved from the time after the Second World War when we did have a robust health care system. Over the years, I guess, they felt there wasn't the same need. Then when medicare came in, people were taken care of by the provinces, so that sort of clinical role of Veterans Affairs decreased and decreased.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee Darn. We don't get to answer your question.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber
Veterans Affairs committee Thank you. It's very much an advisory position. I work for the chief medical officer. She is in charge of the health professionals division within Veterans Affairs Canada. Also within that division is our directorate of mental health. Similar to the directorate of mental health in the Canadian Forces, we have set up a directorate of mental health.
March 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Dr. Alexandra Heber