National Defence committee  Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you. Madam Chair and members of the Standing Committee on National Defence, it is a great honour and privilege to be here today, along with Major Karoline Martin. I thank you for the invitation to discuss elements of the Canadian Forces health services de

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, thanks for the opportunity to answer these questions. I'll cover the first one, and then we'll turn the floor to Major Martin, who will be able to speak to the lessons learned, bearing in mind that what we saw there was a snapshot in time, so she will share some of h

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, to date there have been no experimental vaccines, to my knowledge, that have been used on Canadian Armed Forces personnel, nor is there any intent to use any experimental vaccines on our Canadian Armed Forces personnel.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I'm unaware of any claims by serving or former serving CAF members against the use of an experimental vaccine. As I mentioned, to my knowledge there has never been an experimental vaccine used on our force. Therefore, I couldn't comment as to what the compensatory me

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, it would be outside my authorities to make a determination on that, regrettably. It's not a decision that would rest within health services.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, regrettably, within my current position as deputy surgeon general, I wouldn't have the answer to that question. I'm not responsible for the insurance plans of our members. I honestly couldn't suggest right now who within the department would be in a position to answe

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, with respect to the prioritization of the impending COVID-19 vaccines, those prioritizations will first be made at the cabinet level based on expert advice, including from the national advisory committee on immunization. It will be based on those priorities, at which

National Defence committee  For our troops deploying to Latvia, and for all of our troops deploying, measures are being taken to ensure that our members are not bringing disease into the country nor impacting those being deployed. Those folks are being quarantined in advance of their departure. We have al

National Defence committee  I'll have to speak to that in my current role as deputy surgeon general. Back in March during the first wave, in an effort to respect the public health measures put in place by each of the provinces, the Canadian Armed Forces took a very disciplined role to cease operations in m

National Defence committee  I will take that. We are seeing right now that we have members deployed to support the long-term care facility in northern Manitoba, so it certainly remains top of mind for the Canadian Armed Forces. We have our teams prepared and ready to go, much as they were in wave one, shou

National Defence committee  Perhaps I'll ask Major Martin, who has that coal face experience, to speak to what we've learned from our experiences there. Major Martin.

National Defence committee  Thank you for the opportunity to respond. Dating back to wave one and our work with the whole-of-government response plan for COVID-19, part of our planning was related to the potential to respond to the requirements to support rural and remote northern communities.

National Defence committee  Unfortunately, I don't have the exact number right now. I'd have to take that one on notice and get back to you.

National Defence committee  At this time, the role of the Canadian Armed Forces in the rollout of the vaccine is still being explored. Right now we have members—logistics experts and planners—working with the Public Health Agency to assist with planning, but it's yet to be determined what other roles the Ca

National Defence committee  Obviously, I can respond from only the health system perspective.