Veterans Affairs committee  I was just going to say that I think one of the personality factors that has kind of come up time and time again, no matter which population you're looking at, is impulsiveness as a risk factor for suicide. Across populations, military and non-military, impulsiveness does seem to predict people who are more likely to be suicidal.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Veterans Affairs committee  Basically it's saying that the rates are higher in active-duty members than in reservists. I'll come back to a previous comment that we often lack data on reservists, so it's hard to say that's truly the case. But it has been noted in the literature to date that active duty has a higher risk.

Veterans Affairs committee  When I was looking at my speaking notes today, I noticed that sentence had been cut short. I was referring to greater coordination among the different kinds of health services available to veterans. I mentioned a little earlier in the report there is a need for collaboration between alcohol services and mental health services--getting those people talking to each other.

Veterans Affairs committee  Your second point was asking about gatekeeper training and the reduction in risk. Is that correct?

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. That study did track active U.S. Air Force personnel. At the time, did it reduce when they did the training, and then I'm pretty sure they were followed over a five-year period to see if suicide rates went down in that time. That's as far as they went. There wasn't anything to do with after service.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm sorry, we weren't able to hear anything that General Dallaire said. Your microphone was on mute, so all we could see was the picture.

Veterans Affairs committee  I should start off by saying that the data we used in our studies was collected in 2002, so it was a very different world before Afghanistan in the Canadian military. I only wanted to clarify that point about the work we have done so far. We don't have access to follow these people.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. I was reading really carefully through the report by the Canadian Forces on rates of suicide, and I did notice in that report that they talk about how it's very difficult to track the reservist population. They do talk about a couple of different levels of reservists, and they say that they have good stats on a couple of levels, but not on all levels.

Veterans Affairs committee  I just want to mention that the study Dr. Sareen has been referring to has been sent to the committee. I think it's undergoing translation currently.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  There's only evidence that injury may be a risk factor, but not that it's specific to....

Veterans Affairs committee  The only studies that I looked at actually talked about the healthy soldier effect and this way of thinking that it should be a protective role. But I think what you're talking about is the huge impact it has on the person who does feel that they are healthy and fit, and in fact healthier than the general population.

Veterans Affairs committee  We've heard of suicide pacts with respect to the aboriginal communities we work with in Manitoba. A lot of youth will get together and decide that everybody will commit suicide at the same time or on a particular date because someone else they knew took their life at that time. I haven't heard about it in a military context, so that's interesting to hear.

Veterans Affairs committee  It would, yes.