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Results: 1 - 15 of 652
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-17 16:20
Thank you very much, Minister, and thank you for taking the time to join us today. We know there's quite a time difference, and it's good to be able to have a chance to speak with somebody who has your credentials. You've had a long history as a politician, a long history of serving different ministries, so it's a good opportunity for us to have a discussion with you. I also see that you were just recently over here. In May, you were at the summit that was held in Washington. So thank you for all that.
I'll go right to questions. One of the things we've noticed, especially as we've been interviewing individuals from around the world, is that in the world of veterans affairs things are changing, As you said, many of the countries we've talked to have changes just coming in, because it's clear that things are changing for our veterans. They're becoming much younger as they're leaving the forces; they're becoming much more sophisticated; they know how to use the tools that are there. We're hearing that from every country, and we've just heard that there are new policies coming in to your country.
One of the challenges we have, as we work at our studies, is that we're trying to get to the day where we have a seamless transition from being in the uniform to being in civilian life. As we've crossed Canada in our meetings at different bases, we've met with a number of individuals. And we know it probably goes well sometimes when you're physically well and your mental health is good, but in situations where there's mental stress and there's post-traumatic stress disorder, all these other challenges are making it very difficult for our veterans to move to civilian life.
You mentioned some of that in your discussions with us already, that there are gaps. We see that in Canada as one of the larger gaps. We also have the difficulty of trying to get enough health care professionals who can look after them, both in the service and in private life through contract workers.
I'm just wondering if you want to elaborate a little bit on that, as they try to move from one life to the next. Are you encountering some of those similar problems?
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-17 16:23
Thank you.
That's one of our major problems in a country as large as this one. I serve an area in northern Ontario, a vast, vast, remote area with very few people. We lose track of our veterans, and we're not allowed access to information, due to certain laws in our country, on where they are. We are constantly trying to reach them.
It will be interesting to watch how your card system develops. As a member of Parliament, I'd love to be able to contact my veterans in my riding. That's my job, providing that on-the-ground service that we do back in the ridings. But we have a huge problem trying to find out where they are. If they need us, they can come and find us, but we're not even there to be able to contact them.
I know you do have remote areas in New Zealand, so I assume it's similar there. Sometimes they simply disappear off the face of the map.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-17 16:25
I like to hear that, and I especially like to hear the passion in your voice for that.
Lastly, I know this had been raised by some of my other colleagues, but we think that part of the way to opening the door to veterans, especially the ones who are struggling with issues, is through the family. Even if we were able to talk to the family, they would be able to get to us and help us. We know the sooner we contact them, the sooner we're going to be able to do something and mitigate some of the damage that's been done by some of the issues they've been through in the military.
We're going to have a huge focus on the families. All together, it's all about getting the information and getting them to actually seek the help when they need it. If they don't need it, fine. But if we can find some way to do it....
We'll be watching your situation closely. Thank you.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-17 17:04
Thank you.
Minister, I'm going to go back to what we had a chat about before. It probably wouldn't surprise you that we don't always agree with each other around this table, and I disagree with my colleague that we know where all our veterans are. Many of our veterans aren't even registered, and that's part of the problem.
A witness: Oh, oh!
Mr. Roger Valley: I'm glad to see you have a sense of humour in the morning, because they're going to be after me after this.
Veterans move across the line, especially in our cities. There's no way for an individual MP to know exactly where they are. The addresses change. We can do a mailout to every household in our ridings and still miss veterans.
You talked about the idea of a card. That's something we need to follow closely, to make sure we know where our veterans are as much as we can. The problem is not the veteran who wants you to know where he is; it's the veteran who doesn't want you to know where he is. He's the one we can't find. He's the one, as you mentioned earlier, whose family recognizes this problem, but they can't get help. We need to have some way to contact them ahead of time and let them know we're a contact point, that we're a service they can use.
Quite often, and all my colleagues can attest to this, many people don't realize they can go to their MPs for any problem, especially at the federal-provincial level. They just try to do it all themselves. They get themselves into a worse mess by not coming to our offices first. That's the message I want to deliver to the veterans in my riding.
I can go to the local watering hole, the Legion, and I can meet with them and talk to them. They talk to their buddies and say, “Well, get a hold of Valley's office and talk to him.” That's the only way we really have to contact them. There's no method other than that. Blank mailouts may not contact them.
We want to follow closely what you're doing, to see if there is a way we can reach out before there's a more serious problem.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-17 17:09
You've taught us something here today, so thanks for that.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-17 17:26
I think we should stay for another week.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-17 17:26
I think you need a better camera.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-17 17:27
I'm not sure Mr. Shipley is talking about just one set of cemeteries. We have cemeteries right across the country where we have known soldiers buried and have no marker of any kind on them at all. They're everywhere.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-17 17:28
The issue is broader than just that cemetery.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-10 15:50
Thank you.
And we were hoping, Ms. O'Brien, you were going to disagree with the Speaker, but we probably realized that wasn't going to happen.
Thank you very much, Speaker. You've been very eloquent and you've explained it very well, from your point of view.
I've had the good fortune to serve on this committee since it started as a stand-alone committee, and I'm very proud to do so. We've had witness to some amazing testimony and some amazing meetings in this room.
I can't say anything to disagree with many of the things you said, but we want a room where the veterans can come and have their story. You used the word “lacklustre”. To us, and I think probably to you since you've served here for 20 years, it's one of the best committee meeting rooms to meet in. It's close to the chamber; we can be involved here at all times. Of all the ones we've worked in, this is one of the best. We don't necessarily need the classification to adorn this room or to get permission to adorn it with something that's important to veterans, but we feel we want a room where the living ones can come and have something to say about their future.
One of the things we've found through our study and crossing Canada is that one of the biggest concerns the men and women in uniform have right is how they're treated as they leave. We think it would just be a mark of recognition for them that they have their own room, they have their own meeting room, they have a place to come that would carry appropriate artwork, if you will. We think they would take ownership of this and they would want to come before us at a very difficult time.
Many of the witnesses we have had have been very emotional. We're dealing at this time with post-traumatic stress disorder. We want some room or some place that they can take some ownership of and feel comfortable in.
So that was the reason for our original request. And while we understand everything you put in your letter and your comments you just made, some of us here don't know how it would take away from, as an example, the Memorial Chamber to have a room the veterans could recognize as their own, as the living, and come to discuss with parliamentarians their thoughts and their wishes and their hopes for the future.
That was the original drive of that. The mover will have to say what he wants after the original motion, that we tried to do this, but we wanted the opportunity. We know you have a lot of experience. We wanted the opportunity to bring you here and share some of that, and I'm sure my colleagues will have some other things.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-10 16:09
Today, Mr. Speaker, we invited you to Room 112-North. It doesn't inspire an awful lot. We think we can do a lot better if we're bringing people in who are helping us plan our future. With all respect, we would like you to reconsider. Please allow us to give it a better name, because 112-North doesn't inspire an awful lot.
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-05 16:18
Thank you for coming today and helping us understand a system that's so different from ours.
I want to get right to a couple of questions. You mentioned there was a new law brought in in 2007, and if I heard you correctly, it has to do with some of the changing realities, the new challenges we face, the many conflicts, and some different aspects. We hear this over and over again from our own forces and from other forces. We've asked questions of the Australians and the Americans. The conflicts have changed and we're facing things that we never faced before, plus we're starting to understand the mental health side. As you said before, it wasn't socially acceptable in the past, but for whatever reason, it's a new reality for us.
One of the challenges we have here is that as we try to cover off the mental health issues, we're short of health professionals. We're short inside the military; we're short in the public sector. We hear over and over again that people who need service are having to wait longer times for it. When they leave the service, there's sometimes a total break, which is not acceptable and we're trying to correct it. I'm just wondering--and if I said anything wrong about the 2007 law, correct me--what access people in the service have. When they leave the service, is there timely access to mental health services? Are there enough providers?
View Roger Valley Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Roger Valley Profile
2008-06-05 16:21
We have somewhat similar programs. The problem we run into in Canada is that as they become more and more experienced, their value increases, and the private sector in Canada--and I presume in Germany--pays much higher than the military does, so we constantly have a bleed. As we bring them through and train them, and as their skills develop, and as their time in service goes by, they leave for the private sector.
Another thing that happens is that we lose all our professionals to the large urban centres. In a country as wide and diverse as Canada, we have no one serving in our small areas, or very few services are available. They migrate out of the military because their earning power is greater in the private sector. Plus, they migrate to the large cities, which is not always where their service is needed.
I'm just wondering if it's similar for you. Do you have the same challenges in trying to keep them in the military when the private sector pays more?
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