Special Report
Assessing the State of Mental Health Services at CFB Petawawa
December 2008
Letter to the Minister
November 12, 2008
The Honourable Peter G. MacKay, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
Minister of National Defence
Major-General George R. Pearkes Building
13th Floor, North Tower
101 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K2
Dear Minister MacKay:
Please find enclosed six copies of our special report entitled Assessing the State of Mental Health Services at CFB Petawawa.
This special report results from a fact finding visit to Canadian Forces Base Petawawa conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces in November 2007. Three major health care concerns were identified at CFB Petawawa and the recommendations in the report are aimed at assisting the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces, as an institution, deal with the issues facing health care availability, in general, and at CFB Petawawa, specifically.
On August 8, 2008, we provided an interim report to the Chief of the Defence Staff in order to provide the Canadian Forces with the opportunity to review our findings and recommendations prior to finalizing the report. Taking into account the responses received, this final report was prepared. It is submitted to you, the Minister of National Defence, pursuant to paragraph 38(1)(b) of the Ministerial Directives for the Ombudsman’s Office.
Pursuant to paragraph 38(2)(b) of the Ministerial Directives, please be advised that we intend to publish the report on the expiration of 28 days from this date.
We look forward to receiving your response to our recommendations.
Yours truly,
Mary McFadyen
Interim Ombudsman
c.c.: Mr. Robert Fonberg, Deputy Minister
General Walter Natynczyk, Chief of the Defence Staff
Enclosures (6)
I. Background
Coinciding with the office’s second follow-up review on the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and other operational stress injuries in the military, the former Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces participated in a two-day fact finding mission at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Petawawa on November 27 and 28, 2007. The Ombudsman was accompanied by the Director General of Operations and an investigator from the office.
CFB Petawawa is the home base of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, 2 Area Support Group Headquarters, Area Support Unit Petawawa, 2 Service Battalion and Combat Support Service Training Company, Group Signals Squadron, Canadian Forces Special Operations Forces Command, 1 Canadian Field Hospital, Canadian Medical Equipment Depot, and the Canadian Special Operations Regiment.
CFB Petawawa has also been the home base for five Afghanistan rotations since 2002 (Operation Archer rotations 0 and 3 August 2003 to February 2004, and August 2005 to February 2006, Task Force Afghanistan rotations 0, 3 and 6, August 2005 February 2006, February 2007 to August 2007, and August-September 2008 to February 2009), and has contributed a significant number of personnel to other Afghanistan rotations. In all, more than 8,500 Petawawa-based personnel have deployed to Afghanistan since 2002. Tragically, 22 of the military fatalities in Afghanistan have been members based at CFB Petawawa prior to their deployment (as of July 1, 2008).
Given this intense operational tempo, and taking into account the hazardous nature of the Afghanistan operation and the isolated geographical location of CFB Petawawa, the former Ombudsman believed that this base would be a valuable case study in the larger systemic investigation regarding post-traumatic stress disorder and other operational stress injuries. In previous months, Petawawa had also been the subject of a number of specific complaints to the Ombudsman’s office (and that of the Ontario Ombudsman). Specifically, military members and their families had complained about a lack of appropriate mental health care for soldiers and their families who were desperately trying to cope with deployment – and, more particularly, Afghanistan – related stresses. These complaints were of particular interest to the military Ombudsman given the finding made by investigators in the office’s broader systemic investigation that the Department and the Canadian Forces need to do much more to help uniformed members and their families, as well as military caregivers, deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and other operational stress injuries.
During this fact-finding visit to CFB Petawawa, the Ombudsman met with a number of diverse groups who all had a role to play in managing and/or providing mental health services at the bases. These groups included:
- Supervisors, staff and clients of the Petawawa Family Resource Centre (MFRC);
- Officers and junior and senior non-commissioned members;
- Health care professionals (doctors, a mental health nurse and medical assistants);
- Social workers;
- Chaplains; and
- Various members of the military chain of command.
The Ombudsman and the Director General also met with the Director of the Phoenix Centre, a provincially-funded facility that provides mental health care to children and families in the Pembroke, Ontario area (which includes CFB Petawawa).
In addition to hearing about a number of concerns related to specific individuals at CFB Petawawa (which the office followed up on as individual complaints), the Ombudsman was informed of two broader problems that were having a real and negative impact on Canadian Forces members and their families at the base, namely:
- The overall lack of health care at the base, and in the immediate area, to identify and care for individuals with mental health injuries, particularly but not solely those linked to military deployments to Afghanistan; and
- The noticeable burnout of military caregivers at all levels.
As a result of his visit to the base, it was clear to the Ombudsman that Canadian Forces members and their families were not getting the care and treatment that they needed in the Petawawa area to deal with their mental health injuries and/or illnesses, the consequences of which could be tragic. It was also clear that these problems could hamper the ability of CFB Petawawa to meet its operational requirements in the future if they were not addressed immediately.
The overriding aim of the Ombudsman’s broader follow-up report on post-traumatic stress disorder and other operational stress injuries was to answer the basic question: Are Canadian Forces members who suffer from mental health injuries being diagnosed and getting the care and treatment they need so that they can continue to be contributing members of Canadian society – either within the Canadian Forces or as civilians? Unfortunately, the answer in the broader report was that some members are not. The Ombudsman found that, in some cases, injured soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen who have served their country with courage and dedication are slipping through the cracks of an ad hoc system. Indeed, some of the most significant problems in the current system were seen, first-hand by the Ombudsman, at CFB Petawawa.
