The Department of National Defence is cutting the jobs of medical professionals involved in suicide prevention and monitoring

post-traumatic stress disorders – despite claims by DND and the Canadian Forces that dealing with such health issues is a priority.

The move comes on the heels of a new report indicating that suicides have increased in the Canadian Forces. At the same time, the issue of suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the military is also under scrutiny at a military police complaints hearing in Ottawa. That hearing is examining how the Canadian Forces dealt with the case of Cpl. Stuart Langridge, an Afghanistan veteran who killed himself.

The unions representing the health workers have been notified that 15 of the 25 jobs in that area will be cut. The workers perform key roles, union officials say.

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They have been told that the DND’s Deployment Health Section is being shut down, cutting four jobs, including those of suicide prevention specialists. The employees also monitor PTSD rates and traumatic brain injury.

Eight of the 18 jobs in DND’s epidemiology section also will be cut. Those include epidemiologists and researchers who analyze mental health issues such as depression, PTSD, and suicide.

The unions say a trial program on injury prevention at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier also will be closed because of the budget cuts. They note that the injury rate among Canadian Forces members is twice that of the general Canadian population.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada and the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, the unions representing the workers, are calling on the Conservative government to reverse the cuts.

“At a time when there is increasing awareness of mental health problems among our veterans returning from conflict and concerns that PTSD, depression and suicide are serious issues for the Canadian Forces, the government’s decision to withdraw from this area of work is quite simply irresponsible,” said PIPSC president Gary Corbett.

The unions say that one of the team members in the deployment health section to be shut down is also the co-chair of the Canadian Forces Expert Panel on Suicide Prevention.

The unions also warn that eliminating the jobs of epidemiologists and researchers will cripple DND’s capability to monitor the health of military personnel.

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Claude Poirier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, pointed out that monitoring the health of Canadian Forces members “is not merely optional” for DND. “Because Canadian Forces members are generally excluded from health surveys conducted by Statistics Canada, DND studies are essential to identify health issues affecting military personnel, and to target areas for intervention,” he noted in a statement.

DND did not comment on the job cuts.

Statistics released Monday by DND show that the number of suicides among Canadian Forces personnel increased last year. Twenty soldiers died of suicide in 2011 – 19 men and one woman, the department reported. Just 12 soldiers took their lives in 2010, all of them male.

In response to those statistics, Lt.-Col. Rakesh Jetly, a psychiatrist and senior mental-health adviser at the Defence Department, told Postmedia News, “We’re taking it very seriously.”

Jetly said dealing with the hidden mental wounds of the battlefield is one of the department’s top priorities. The department is doing everything it can to prevent suicide and to provide mental-health services to returning soldiers, he added.

But union members say the move to eliminate such key health jobs undercuts claims by the Conservative government that only “back-office operations” not affecting front-line services would be hit by the budget cuts. Overall, DND will see the jobs of between 900 to 1,000 civilian employees eliminated.

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Other front-line service jobs are also being eliminated. Documents leaked to the Ottawa Citizen show that Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) is taking a significant share of the government’s cuts at DND; its budget has been slashed by 13 per cent and its workforce will be reduced by 15 per cent, or 242 full-time jobs.

The defence researchers and scientists are credited with saving soldiers’ lives in Afghanistan by coming up with innovative technology and protective systems.

As a result of the layoffs, the defence science organization is stopping work on a bomb detection project at its Suffield, Alta., site. The Counter Terrorism Technology Centre at Suffield, which conducts research into chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive incidents, also will be scaled back. Some robotics work will be cut and commitments to research for public security programs will be reviewed.

Scientists at DRDC Ottawa will reduce their efforts in computer network security and support for radar system design work, according to the documents. Basic research into naval radar will be stopped.

Military officers privately worry the cuts could put troops at risk in the future since science and research provides an edge to soldiers on the front lines.

Other jobs being eliminated at DND range from clerks and secretaries to food services and kitchen staff. In addition, the positions of radiation safety personnel, weapons technicians, ammunition technicians, English-language teachers, heavy truck mechanics, laboratory assistants, drivers and dental hygienists will be eliminated.

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