Veterans Affairs committee  I'd like to say a flat-out no. I believe we're getting to “no”. I believe we evolve as we grow. There's a different approach on the ground in the Canadian Armed Forces, and I've seen it in my short time as ombudsman—three and a half years. I listen to the chief of the defence staff and the open conversations from the minister, and I think there's an actual cultural shift happening.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't want to go back in history, but this office was set up coming out of Somalia in 1998, because of the sexual assault allegations and so on that happened around that point in time. The chief of defence staff has introduced the sexual trauma team. I think they are starting to really get their feet under them.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, absolutely not.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's exactly the mindset we took when we went into this. I believe the transitioning members need to know what programs, benefits, and services are provided by the Canadian Armed Forces, so I want to make that a one-stop shop for the families and the members. We've intentionally ensured that we've built it on the same platform as the benefits navigator at VAC so that if and when we get to the point where there should be a closer relationship....

Veterans Affairs committee  Guy and I do not meet that regularly. Guy is running a shop. I'm running a shop. We both have issues we're trying to conquer. The work that Mr. Parent and his group is doing is moving the Veterans Affairs issues forward. I think my job is to make sure those Canadian Armed Forces members who transition are best prepared to arrive in that world.

Veterans Affairs committee  The legislative issue, as I understand it, is that the information, once collected, must be used for the intent for which it was collected. If collected by the Canadian Armed Forces, it has a certain restriction to it for Veterans Affairs Canada. When we talk about file transfer and the delay, a lot of the issue was about digitization, and I think we're still talking about that.

Veterans Affairs committee  There are a couple of issues. There is some chafe against the privacy legislation, and then there's also the compatibility of the systems and how they work transferring the information. I think there is also a compatibility issue.

Veterans Affairs committee  I believe there are certain cases that demand more engagement than others. Finding the right balance of how many times I should reach out to an individual, again, is something that is a developed and learned skill as we go through. Do we do it enough in all cases? No. Do we do it sufficiently in some cases?

Veterans Affairs committee  I have two points to that. What we've done is we've run pilot programs with various sections. We used the MFRCs, which are a great conduit to our getting to the members. We've allowed them to go practise and play with it. We've given it to some of the IPSCs across the country. They've played with it.

Veterans Affairs committee  For example, if we need to introduce a new piece of legislation, we know what that mechanism is. There are certain steps. The bill gets introduced and so on and so forth. If we need to change the regulatory regime, there's a body responsible for that. All the mechanisms I talk about are common, everyday mechanisms that we have: how we introduce legislation into this country, how we change regulations, how we create policy.

Veterans Affairs committee  All recruits to the Canadian military sign on the bottom line also—unlimited liability. They enter into the same program that has been established for a while for all Canadian Armed Forces members. There's a massive amount of training, time, and effort that goes into a recruit.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think it's a compromise. I just want to go back to one thing you said earlier. You said there were too many members left in the system. I think it's going to have to be looked at from two different perspectives. Not too many occupations can support, so which occupations can support?

Veterans Affairs committee  I think you're getting very close to the core of some of the issues we have when we talk about eligibility: who's in and who's out of the club. Look, this country handles billions and billions of dollars from the taxpayer every year on trust. You file your income tax. We send you a refund cheque or you send us a cheque, and there may be an audit at some point in time.

Veterans Affairs committee  I've spent many years in the private sector also. I knew what my deliverables were, and if they weren't delivered, I knew my paycheques were going to be numbered in the future. If I have a public service standard that I've committed to meeting, and I'm consistently not doing it, there should be some questions.