Veterans Affairs committee  There's not much research. There is a lot of research on the harmful effects of using cannabis. There has not been much research done on whether cannabis is useful for any medical condition. Part of this was because it was difficult to do clinical research when you were dealing w

Veterans Affairs committee  You would have to ask the doctors who prescribe it to their patients. We have no control over that. We saw a rise with the change in regulations over the years from Health Canada. At the beginning, the criteria were very restrictive and they kept being challenged in court. Ever

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs and members of the committee. I'm Dr. Cyd Courchesne, Director General of Health Professionals and Chief Medical Officer at Veterans Affairs Canada. I'm pleased to be here today with my colleague, Dr. Alexandra Heber,

Veterans Affairs committee  All this information is also available on our website also.

Veterans Affairs committee  We also publish every week through Twitter and social media. We have repeat tweets that go out advertising all of the services available at the department.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll take the first crack at this. Based on the numbers and the calls, it's not just the veterans. There are RCMP members and there are family members and children. Most of the calls are not for service-related issues, so I would say that so far it has not been an issue. But aga

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, absolutely. There's no doubt as to the value of peer support. Absolutely, it would be of value.

Veterans Affairs committee  We can certainly look at it.

Veterans Affairs committee  Also, these programs are offered through the military family resource centre, so they are available to family members before the CF member releases.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm going to let Madame Malette answer the question with respect to the length of the sessions.

Veterans Affairs committee  Are you talking about the health professionals that provide the counselling to the veterans through VAC assistance?

Veterans Affairs committee  That was in response to your colleague's question as to whether we were doing outreach with associations and family doctors. We're not in a position to contact those family doctors. I'm not sure—

Veterans Affairs committee  Those are not family physicians that provide the service through VAC assistance. It's Health Canada that monitors the quality of the services provided through the VAC assistance. Am I right?

Veterans Affairs committee  Again, this is anonymous, so none of the information is shared with us. We just know how many people use the service and perhaps whether they're satisfied with the service. Once in a while, we do deal with some complaints and all that, which we follow up on, but the providers w

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll answer that, if you'll allow. You have heard that suicide is not a simple issue. Many factors play into it. I know people don't always like to hear about research, but research is very important because it provides us with so much information, so we can formulate programs,