DND/CAF Ombudsman visits Petawawa, meets with constituents
The Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) visited Garrison Petawawa last week to talk with CAF members and DND civilian employees as well as their families to help address issues and explain his role.
Gregory Lick has been travelling to bases, wings and garrisons across the country, and spent October 1-4 in Petawawa meeting with each of these groups to learn what problems they may be facing, answer questions and receive complaints.
“Everybody was very open,” said the Ombudsman, adding he always looks to deal with complaints at the lowest level first.
The issues and challenges locally did not come as a surprise. Physical and mental health services were found to be lacking as many area families are still trying to find a doctor. Spousal employment was also an issue with many either unemployed, underemployed or working in a completely different career path. Finding adequate childcare was also a problem.
“Those problems with service availability, particularly for families, are just not as available in a small town as they are in a large town,” said Lick. “What I’ve seen, everybody tries very hard to make it work but it will be an ongoing problem for probably quite a long time.”
The office of the DND/CAF Ombudsman is a direct source of information, referral, and education for the men and women of DND and the CAF. Its role is to help individuals access existing channels of assistance or redress when they have a complaint or concern.
It also strives to help avoid problems altogether by effectively communicating to constituents through social media, their website, media releases, outreach sessions, and meet and greets.
Addressing complaints is no simple task. “There are 604 (policies) to govern how the military is governed,” said Lick. “It can be incredibly complex as you can see by the number.”
The office works to help CAF members, civilian employees and their families understand these policies and decode the “milspeak” language. This allows them to know exactly what benefits they may be entitled to receive.
But Lick’s ultimate raison d’etre is to ensure that people are treated fairly by the system.
“We look at whether the decision and the process to get to that decision, more importantly, was fair,” said Lick. “Absolutely come to us with a question or a complaint, we’ll go through it and get your information, but we will always look at the other side or sides to understand why the decision was made. Was the process followed fair?”
To discern fairness can be challenging. “We ask the decision-maker the rationale for that and very typically once you ask for the rationale for that decision if there was unfairness that comes out,” said Lick.
Despite the rigorous process followed by the Ombudsman office, it doesn’t always mean that the complainant will get what they want; just what is fair and correct for them to receive according to the policies in place.
For those who don’t receive exactly what they want, there is surprisingly little anger and disappointment, confirmed Lick.
“For the majority of times, people are much more satisfied once they understand why the decision was made,” he said, “rather than just having a vacuum of information about the decision.”
Lick and his staff also work at creating long term change that benefits both the institution and its members. They do this through systemic, thorough investigations into serious issues.
“Right now we are looking into OUTCAN (Outside Canada) postings,” said Lick. “We are getting a lot of people coming back and telling us about their experiences on OUTCAN and what are the issues that they faced, maybe some of the positives, and then looking at what recommendations we can then make once we do that analysis.”
The DND and CAF Ombudsman’s office is also looking at a study of racism in the military, as well as transitioning out, family care, and mental and physical health.
Everything the Ombudsman does is independent, impartial, confidential and fair. He does not report to any chain of command, nor does he break confidentiality unless the person permits it in writing.
“We want people to come to us without fear of reprisal,” he added.
The Ombudsman noted the overall visit to Garrison Petawawa was very positive, and recommended members and their families look into the Petawawa Military Family Resource Centre (PMFRC) as they are there to help, and have the resources to address many of the issues they may be facing.
For more information on the DND and CAF Ombudsman’s office, please visit their website at www.ombudsman.forces.gc.ca.
