Veterans Affairs committee  Then further on, our members are lifers, and most of them retire at full pension.

Veterans Affairs committee  We're looking into that. It can be coming, we think, either from firearms in the past.... We didn't have as much hearing protection when we went to shoot. When I was in Saskatchewan, we would go out to the open range and we didn't have hearing protection. That's one thing that's being looked at.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's a very good question to ask. Today I can't provide specific numbers returning from theatre, but I could get those numbers to the committee if you would like to see them. I can tell you the prevalence in the organization, going through our VAC colleagues and watching statistics coming in, it's really based on the pensions and services that have been provided.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. First of all, I'd like to thank you all for your ongoing examination of benefits afforded our serving and retired members of the RCMP who have been injured on duty and for your invitation to be here today. As the chair noted, I'm deputy commissioner Dan Dubeau.

Public Safety committee  The foundation is the road to mental health readiness, and we thank the CF every day for this, as well as the Canadian Mental Health Association. We use that as a foundation. We haven't changed the core piece of it because we find that it fits very well with our organization. What we have changed, though, is where we start talking not only to our employees but also our leadership structure, where we incorporate what's unique to our organization.

Public Safety committee  We didn't have that post-deployment part of it. Post-deployment is when they're going to deploy overseas. We don't have that. We have a post-deployment structure when we do deploy our members overseas, so we do that then, but I'm talking about a standard R2MR for all veterans.

Public Safety committee  We're using the foundational piece. What we have changed, madam, is on how the services are available in the organization, the policies we have within our organizations to deal with mental health issues and the other occupational issues, and how you will deal with the employees, as well as what and to whom the employees should be reaching out to.

Public Safety committee  That is a very good question. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has had a complete mental health strategy for the past two years. The first year, templates were used to help managers communicate with our members. It really meant being sensitive to our members and their stories.

Public Safety committee  I will talk about it as it relates to the RCMP. We have data about incidents that happen in the workplace. There is also the Veterans Affairs Canada data that gives us an idea of the number of people who apply for a pension. There is also data from our insurance companies. We have a lot of data, but what we do not have is internal data.

Public Safety committee  No, I do not not, Mr. Chair. I thank the committee for taking an interest in this, and I will echo all of my colleague's comments. As you know, we've been at this for several years now, and we've had our mental health strategy since 2014. I'm willing to answer any questions about some of the systems we've deployed, and comment on what you've heard here, as well as some of the research that we're considering in future to advance this in our organization.

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chair, I don't have a presentation. We'll just open it up to questions whenever Mr. Head is done.

Public Safety committee  Well, there would be no costs off the top, because right now we're paying 100% regardless for members who are occupationally injured. That would not change. The only change you may see is actually the premium paid to workers' compensation, but that's negotiated through ESDC, the same as it is for the core public administration.

Public Safety committee  No, there was not. When we went out with the survey, it was really specific to the labour relations regime. Notwithstanding that, with regard to the changes to GECA and health care modernization, that's been under discussion since 2011, 2012, 2013, with the staff relations program, the labour relations regime of the day.

Public Safety committee  On the exclusions themselves, if you look at the exclusions holistically for the RCMP versus other police forces, you will find that they are very similar to those of other police forces across the country. I'm talking about our major comparators. They are very similar. As well, they're similar to those of our colleagues in the core public admin.