National Defence committee  Well, that is one aspect. The other is that people are given.... As I mentioned in my remarks, once the condition is stabilized, they can be given from six months to three years to release. But until the point of stabilization, there can be a prolonged period of three, four, or five years when the individual is undergoing treatment to get better.

National Defence committee  Absolutely. With respect to the ombudsman's comments, I was speaking with his staff last week, and we have reconciled the numbers. They are in fact higher. You will note that in my comments I said the minimum is 25%, and we are there. We want to continue to increase that, and we will work diligently to do so.

National Defence committee  We'll take the question under advisement and get you a response.

National Defence committee  As I stated in my opening remarks, I am responsible for all of the care to the ill and injured other than medical care. That question would be best raised with the surgeon general. But we can take it under advisement and have the surgeon general prepare a response for you.

National Defence committee  I certainly can. There are three separate reviews, if you will, of the JPSU that are ongoing. The first is the ombudsman's. In the late spring, I believe, he is scheduled to release a second report looking at how things have changed. The chief of personnel has asked the chief of review services for the Department of National Defence to examine the JPSU and the network of services that surrounds it to ensure that we are delivering the services as efficiently as possible and to determine whether there are changes that need to occur.

National Defence committee  Prior to 2008, services were delivered at each base, but I would say mainly on an ad hoc basis. Each base commander assigned the resources that he had available to him, and the programs that we had were much more limited than they are today. As we saw more and more serious casualties come back from Afghanistan, it became clear that a more consolidated approach had to be taken.

National Defence committee  Our first goal is to return people to full duties. As an employer, we have spent a great deal of time, effort, and money in training personnel, and when we have people who are fully qualified we want to retain them. I would say we are averaging at the moment an approximately 25% to 30% return to full duties from those who begin a return to work program.

National Defence committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, l am very pleased to have the opportunity to appear before you once again to respond to questions pertaining to the care of ill and injured Canadian armed forces personnel and the various forms of transition assistance provided to military personnel.

National Defence committee  If the medical officer recommends that a family member be with the individual, then we act on that recommendation immediately and send a family member.

National Defence committee  Are you talking about one type of benefits in particular?

National Defence committee  When a solider is injured, he remains a CF member. In the case of a member of the Reserve Force, we operate a program similar to the civilian program. For example, if a person is injured while in the service of the military, whether it be while exercising to stay in shape, repairing a vehicle or some other thing, the military continues to pay the member the same salary he was earning prior to being injured.

National Defence committee  Occasionally a Regular Force member may not be able to resume his regular duties. He will then have to resign from the Canadian military. However, before that happens, members receive help with submitting applications to VAC, which subsequently does an assessment. In fact, retiring members have access to a range of programs designed for them.

National Defence committee  Yes. I am not a doctor, so I can't speak with total certainty, but we do know that there is a link here. Comorbidity does exists, in the case of alcohol, drugs or other addictive behaviours.

National Defence committee  As was mentioned earlier by Colonel Weger, the only ones who can actually make a diagnosis that there has been a mental injury is a psychiatrist. What we do, as was touched on, is provide training in all Canadian Forces leadership courses to help individuals recognize behaviours that might indicate there might be some type of mental health or other issue, and then encourage the leaders to refer these individuals in question for proper medical assessment.

National Defence committee  I would say it's extremely important. First of all, we want the individual to get treatment. If they don't see a doctor they're not going to be treated, and it's going to be difficult for them to get better if they're not getting the medication and the psychiatric or psychological assistance they require.