Veterans Affairs committee  Actually, I think there will be three of us. I'll be sharing my time with our colleagues from the staff relations program.

Veterans Affairs committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. I would like to thank you for inviting me to appear before your committee. I would like to introduce Superintendent Lynn Lemieux and Garry Roy, who are sitting in the gallery. They are accompanying me today. Mr. Roy acts

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Stoffer. You referenced the VIP. Yes, I have briefed Commissioner Paulson on the VIP file and what's happened to it. At this point, as you realize, we have no authority to authorize the payment of VIP, and so we can't proceed with that. We have p

Veterans Affairs committee  Even deployed overseas, they're still RCMP members, and they're covered under our act and have the same benefits as a regular member. They would have the same benefits.

Veterans Affairs committee  In this case and on how that would work, I will turn to my colleague, the director general of occupational health, because that does fall under her responsibility.

Veterans Affairs committee  I've already had talks with my colleagues about the future state and about seeing if there would be options for bringing it back to Charlottetown, where it was. We're in discussions about moving towards that in the near future.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's working, sir. However, since we don't medically discharge many people from the organization, we often accommodate them in serving functions, and we bundle tasks differently. We don't have many medically discharged members with disabilities; when they are discharged, it's usu

Veterans Affairs committee  When we look at whether to place a person in an administrative role, it's usually based on whether there's a risk to the public or a member. It could be a matter of public safety. There could be a risk to the member himself or herself. That's where we make those determinations. I

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, but we don't have a mandatory retirement age anymore.

Veterans Affairs committee  We're not like the military. We do not have a mandatory final medical before you leave the force. However, most of our members do get their final medicals. Our members have become more educated about what's available out there, and our SRR colleagues, as well as our association,

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll start. In reference to government, we have a very good working relationship with Veterans Affairs. I want to make that clear. They're very accommodating. I know that you've heard testimony today, but we do talk to Veterans Affairs, and they are very accommodating. They're v

Veterans Affairs committee  Most members of the RCMP spend their whole career with us. We have a really good retention rate. When they retire they're usually hitting 35 years of pensionable service, and many of them aren't looking for another career. It's similar to the military. Our members stay with us

Veterans Affairs committee  As I said, the families are definitely included in the retirement courses for our people who are retiring. We have our own employee assistance program out there to help with the families. However, we don't have that transition service with the families to present to them what's g

Veterans Affairs committee  Our members in northern Saskatchewan tend to send emails too, just like everybody else. We're very open to email. As we go through our whole review of the health services, we'll be communicating that we're reviewing our health services and are asking for suggestions. I know tha

Veterans Affairs committee  Has the attitude changed? Yes, it has, but it takes a long time to do attitude, because there are people with more service. I don't want to mention my colleagues, but there are those like me who have more service. They came up through a different time. However, we are changing