National Defence committee  I'll answer along two lines, Madam. First of all, André Berdais is my public affairs officer. He works for me, and the words he releases have all been cleared by me. It has been my leadership decision not to set out and create--stealing staff effort that I need in other places-

National Defence committee  Sir, let me answer you in English, because it is important that I choose my words carefully. I do not agree that the senior staff of the Canadian Forces, the leadership of the Canadian Forces, are focused on resilience or on the concept you're describing, for the reasons you at

National Defence committee  Everybody is searching for perfection, and part of my sad duty is to tell you that this is 2009 and perfection in the realm of detection, prevention, and treatment of mental illness is just not possible.

National Defence committee  Shall I respond, Mr. Chair?

National Defence committee  I'll start off and then perhaps people who have more specific information can jump in. I admit that I am only aware of these cases through the media reporting, and I take everything I see in the media with a relatively large grain of salt. I'm pretty certain there were these pol

National Defence committee  I don't think so, because the reason we're organized the way we are is that there are local resources in place. Obviously, it's terrible that this happened, and everybody would rather prevent it, but it's not always possible, so you have to react to the situation when it occurs.

National Defence committee  It's a serious matter.

National Defence committee  They would be assessed at a civilian facility, one that had a mental health in-patient capability. Depending on how disorganized they were or what their state was, you may need one of the locked facilities, and there are not many of those. The attending civilian psychiatrist woul

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I may have forgotten the drill, but—

National Defence committee  —you will remind me. Mr. Chair, members of the committee, good afternoon. I am happy to have the opportunity to appear once more before you to provide some information that I believe will be of interest and value to you. I have assumed that the major focus remains on mental heal

National Defence committee  Thanks for that question. It's very interesting. First of all, I'd like to clarify that the 40% in administration—of which I, of course, am one—are uniformed physicians; the 40% is not the overall percentage of physicians providing care to members of the Canadian Forces. So whe

National Defence committee  I'm anxious to see it myself. I think this is a return to governance issues, which goes beyond a chain of command. Personally, my chain of command is working very well. It's starting to move little by little. About four or five months ago, they didn't know they were responsible

National Defence committee  Petawawa's the nearest, and it is underserviced, from the point of view of mental health resources as well. It's a very fine line, and it really is a matter of professional judgment. The primary care physician is very important in deciding. There's a difference between our contr

National Defence committee  As regards your first question, there is basic training on stress problems, which includes post-traumatic stress disorder. That's part of the basic training of all military members at the base in Saint-Jean. Basic military training includes training in the effects of stress and

National Defence committee  I think my French in my remarks was not terribly perfect. What we were trialing on three bases is in fact a systematic peer review process, wherein a certain number of files of each practitioner would be reviewed on a periodic basis for quality assurance reasons.