Article content

Canada’s growing numbers of ill and injured soldiers are being failed by an understaffed, overburdened system in desperate need of an immediate and radical overhaul, says military Ombudsman Gary Walbourne.

In an exclusive interview with the Citizen, Walbourne praised a new, rapidly prepared and “brutally honest” report into the Joint Personnel Support Unit (JPSU) ordered by Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance, but says its conclusions are merely an acknowledgment of what critics of the unit have been saying for at least three years.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'We have to get this thing fixed': Military ombudsman sounds alarm over injured soldiers Back to video

“These are not show stoppers,” said Walbourne of the report’s recommendations. “(But) I tip my hat to the CDS. He came in, saw this as a priority, and tackled it head on. ”

The JPSU report, finished in September last year, notes that ‘we can and must do better.”

It addresses issues that Walbourne and his predecessor Pierre Daigle have been warning DND about for several years and is the first time that senior military have fully acknowledged that the complaints about JPSU are justified.