Recommendation 1

The Committee recommends that Public Safety Canada define the term “public safety officer” broadly to not only include firefighters, police (including members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), paramedics, correctional officers, border services officers and Indigenous emergency managers, but to also consider employees of the Correctional Service of Canada (including parole and program officers) and dispatch officers, and that Public Safety Canada acknowledge the unique features of each group.

Recommendation 2

The Committee recommends that Public Safety Canada, in its creation and implementation of a national strategy on Operational Stress Injuries, recognize that other emergency personnel who work alongside and support public safety officers may also be victims of Operational Stress Injuries, and should form a part of the national strategy

Recommendation 3

The Committee recommends that Public Safety Canada consider Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as falling within the broader health issue of Operational Stress Injuries and that it be defined as a persistent, psychological difficulty resulting from operational duties performed while serving as a public safety officer, along with other mental health problems such as depression and substance abuse.

Recommendation 4

The Committee recommends that Public Safety Canada work in collaboration with Veterans Affairs Canada, National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces and Health Canada, to create a clear, consistent, and comprehensive definition of Operational Stress Injuries that encompasses both diagnosed illnesses and other conditions, and that this definition be developed in collaboration with medical experts and according to international standards.

Recommendation 5

The Committee therefore recommends that the federal government work in collaboration with the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research to establish a new Canadian Institute for Public Safety Officer Health Research.

Recommendation 6

The Committee therefore recommends that the newly created Canadian Institute for Public Safety Officer Health Research work in collaboration with Statistics Canada to organize a national mental health prevalence survey in order to study the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in the defined population of public safety officers, such as the impact of repetitive trauma exposure.

Recommendation 7

The Committee recommends that the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Officer Health Research create a comprehensive research strategy aimed at enhancing the lives of public safety officers and their families by harnessing the national capacity for research, investigating the nature of Operational Stress Injuries (OSIs) and developing prevention, screening, education, intervention and treatment measures by conducting scientific studies on OSIs among public safety officers, such as the examination of the use of technology that is used to determine biological predispositions when screening for public safety roles.

Recommendation 8

The Committee recommends that the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Officer Health Research include in its research strategy a comprehensive overview of all the literature with respect to the use of medicinal marijuana for Operational Stress Injuries and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Recommendation 9

The Committee recommends that Public Safety Canada, in collaboration with Health Canada and the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research, immediately form an expert working group on Operational Stress Injuries (OSIs) to share best practices, advancements, collection, dissemination on information and data on OSIs. The membership should represent a variety of workplace contexts, such as stakeholders from various Public Safety Officer organizations, academia stakeholders, individual public safety officers who are suffering and/or have suffered from OSIs and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and governments, as well as representatives from various provinces, territories and First Nations.

Recommendation 10

The Committee recommends that the expert working group on Operational Stress Injuries (OSIs) have as the first part of its mandate the elaboration of a national strategy on OSIs, and that this strategy include policies on prevention, screening, education, intervention and treatment. The Committee also recommends that the expert working group make recommendations for funding these elements, and submit to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness an evaluation of the costs associated with financing the national strategy on OSIs and the social and financial cost of not taking those measures.

Recommendation 11

The Committee recommends that the expert working group on Operational Stress Injuries (OSIs) examine the issue of recruitment  in its elaboration of a national strategy on OSIs by reviewing screening for mental health issues, the disclosure of information at enrollment and the associated ethical concerns that surround the screening of applicants.

Recommendation 12

The Committee recommends that the expert working group on Operational Stress Injuries (OSIs) include in the educational and training measures of its national strategy possible solutions in order  to bring about culture change regarding mental health in order to reduce the stigma associated with OSIs.

Recommendation 13

The Committee therefore recommends that the expert working group on Operational Stress Injuries recognize the special needs in prevention, screening, education, intervention and treatment for small, rural, isolated and/or First Nations communities.

Recommendation 14

The Committee therefore recommends that the federal government form an advisory council on Operational Stress Injuries (OSIs) in order to support the expert working group on OSIs, that the membership of this council represent a variety of workplace contexts, including stakeholders from the various public safety officer organizations, academia and governments, as well as representing various provinces, territories and First Nations.

Recommendation 15

The Committee recommends that the federal government explore the possibility of introducing legislative measures that would include a presumption of Operational Stress Injuries for public safety officers for whom workplace safety and compensation falls under federal jurisdiction.

Recommendation 16

As access to care for public safety officers and first responders varies by provinces and territories, the Committee recommends that the federal government acknowledge the provinces that have already adopted legislative measures that include a presumption of OSIs for first responders of these respective jurisdictions, study those legislatives measures and invite the provinces and territories where this is not the case to consider this type of public policy.