Mr. Speaker, I will begin responding directly to my colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue on the issue of the accidental dismemberment insurance plan.

The delay in implementing the changes to cover reservists for this plan was absolutely unacceptable, and we have moved swiftly at the Department of National Defence to make sure that this issue was resolved. We informed Canadians and the Canadian armed forces reservists that the necessary changes were made within weeks of the ombudsman's report being delivered last fall. We are committed to progress toward the fair and equitable treatment of all reservists who play an essential role in the defence of this country.

I would like to highlight the role our reservists have played in Afghanistan and in Canadian Armed Forces overseas missions over the years. The hon. member knows all about that.

This is part of a multi-dimensional plan to improve the lives of reservists across the board.

I would like to thank the member for raising this question, as it gives us the opportunity to clarify certain points.

At National Defence, we are very aware of the excellent work our ombudsman has done. We welcome his report, which the member spoke of. Our reservists are indispensable. They account for approximately 15% of our personnel who are serving in Afghanistan, even now.

We followed up on the recommendations presented by the ombudsman in 2008. Progress was made on 11 of those 12 recommendations.

National Defence made changes to the Accidental Dismemberment Insurance Plan, as I already mentioned. In addition, the department also took measures to update and save reservists' medical files using the Canadian Forces health information system and by applying the same standards as exist in the regular force. We are respecting their needs as well as our obligation to maintain the confidentiality of this information.

In 2009, the Surgeon General published an interim guidance for the provision of health care to reservists. It will serve as a guide until the department has made the changes to the Queen’s Regulations and Orders that apply to the Canadian Forces.

We have also taken measures to accelerate the medical release process for all reservists.

The department is ensuring that reservists who are injured or become ill while they are participating in training will have access to compensation and appropriate medical care.

We are in the process of resolving the other more complex pending issue of fair treatment for reservists. Reservists are subject to a certain number of health assessments, for example, before deployments and promotions.

However, the ombudsman's recommendations stated that there must be periodic health assessments, which has proven to be a difficult recommendation to implement, because of the costs involved and the schedules of reservists.

We did a trial run of periodic health assessments in one location last year, and we have expanded that to five reserve brigade groups across the country.

Our goal is to develop an implementation plan once the trial is complete at the end of this year, so that will be 12 responses—in the near future—to 12 recommendations.

Chris Alexander

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