National Defence committee  I'm going to tell you what we have experienced. Again, doing health and being a champion for women seeking child care, the challenge is that day cares are provincially regulated, as well as child care providers. Because it's not a core service delivered by the federal government, retaining spaces is not possible because it has some provincial funding in there.

National Defence committee  There are two things. There is a project under way within health services now, which is the women's health strategy. We need support to continue to develop that strategy, which includes bringing OB/GYNs on board. That will help with some of this oversight and trying to reduce that gap.

National Defence committee  That is a wonderfully complex question, and not my current work. There are two things. Health care inflation is a Canada-based thing. Because we purchase civilian products—we train from there—even if we deliver the care, we purchase it. It's based on those inflation rates. That is data that needs to come from elsewhere.

National Defence committee  I can give you a direction on where to go for that information. It has been part of the overall work on sexual misconduct since 2018. It's about the concentration of serving members. That's where the services are concentrated. It's especially support through family resources centres, which were mentioned previously, as well as within health centres.

National Defence committee  I think that's a fabulous question. Just to let you know, I'm stuck right in the middle of it, personally, because I retired in January. I'm trying to figure the system out, and I come from a health background. Just so you know, it isn't the medical services that declare you not universally fit.

National Defence committee  Do you want to start and I'll follow?

National Defence committee  I've also realized I cannot hear simultaneous translation and the French. That's a big problem for me. I'm going to just build on what Dr. Breeck has said. On the UN side, it is beyond Canada's control, because the UN provides the health care. However, what is really important is that through groups like the women, peace and security ambassador, we are trying to influence how women are included, whether it be the Elsie initiative that's within nations or also feedback that we're giving to the UN.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to approach this from our level as fellow parliamentarians. I'm going to break it down into buckets. The first bucket is how we fund, because when you fund health care, you fund defence, which is key. That is why it's in my first recommendation.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is actually a really pressing question because taxpayers want to make sure that their money is being used correctly. I'm going to take this in two steps. The first step I'm going to talk about is how the CAF or the department pays for health services.

National Defence committee  If you like, I'll start, and we can go from that point on. When we're talking about surge capability, one way the health human resource component of the Canadian Armed Forces health services is structured is that you have a military-civilian mix of teams, meaning that the backbone was always intended to be civilian care providers, allowing uniformed personnel to maintain their clinical competencies.

National Defence committee  Good morning, honourable members and colleagues. Thank you for your invitation to appear today as part of your study on the military health system and the provision of health and transition services under the Canadian Forces Health Services Group. I didn't add veterans there as I kept serving.