Public Accounts committee  For women in the Canadian Armed Forces, we are growing the numbers right now. We have been given a target of 25%. We're changing the processes by which we are recruiting them. If you look at our last ad campaign, “Dare to be Extraordinary”, it featured women specifically, and dif

Public Accounts committee  Let me add to that as well. There is perhaps a bit of a concern that we're sitting idle while this is taking place. That's not the case. Every year, the Canadian Armed Forces turns over approximately 7.2% to 7.8% of its effective force. That turns out to be approximately 9,000 pe

National Defence committee  Thank you, Deputy Minister. The joint suicide prevention strategy was issued a year ago. Since that time, the strategy has become a number of plans and concrete actions that are moving forward to help us deal with the situation. First of all, we have 37 medical clinics across C

Public Accounts committee  First of all, as for Wainwright, I've spent enough time there that I feel like I'm one of your constituents. It's a great opportunity. As for engagement, you are absolutely right. I was just recently at Vimy Ridge. I was fortunate enough to be there for the 100th, and Chief Perr

Public Accounts committee  Thanks very much for the chance to comment on that. I'm not freaking out because I know that we have a job to do and we are going to do it. I'm comfortable about that. The other thing is that, when we're saying very openly right now and agreeing with the Auditor General's comme

Public Accounts committee  I don't know. I asked Ms. Truscott whether any studies had been conducted to assess the impact on recruitment specifically. I will hand it over to her in a moment to see if she has that information. I have to admit, however, that it is becoming challenging. Once again, when we i

Public Accounts committee  I said that the regular force is 4,000 members short right now.

Public Accounts committee  It depends.

Public Accounts committee  As a rule, about 4,500 people leave every year, but it varies. That is roughly 7% to 8%. It also depends on the labour market and the economy.

Public Accounts committee  That's why we do this, to make sure we can actually keep the machine going forward.

Public Accounts committee  Let me begin with the report itself. As you know, General Vance provided an update on the progress made. My apologies for switching into English, but I know the terms in English better. He indicated that indeed there were a number of actions being taken specifically to ensure

Public Accounts committee  If you can just give me one second, I want to continue that huddle.

Public Accounts committee  My apologies, I didn't mean to take away too much of the time. Part of it comes down to what it is that you are actually able to attract from the population as well. Sometimes when you're looking at that, you want to bring in people because you are resourced to bring in numbers.

Public Accounts committee  No, we did not over-hire to inflate and to make the numbers look good.

Public Accounts committee  We have the capacity to hire certain numbers. We have the recruiting and training system to put them through to process them, and we know, based on five-year cycles of forecasting, that we're going to need those people.