Late pay, red tape for some Rangers
Prelimary findings of ombudsman report
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Monday, January 30, 2017
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The federal Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces says a systemic review of the Canadian Rangers will be completed within six months.
"I would say we're 50 to 60 per cent of our way through," Gary Walbourne said. "We should be looking to publish within six months."
The review, which began in 2015, is part of the government's plan to increase the number of Canadian Rangers, especially those that patrol the North, information from the ombudsman's office said.
The Canadian Rangers are part of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve Force and monitor the North and other isolated parts of Canada.
So far, the review's preliminary findings have identified problems ranging from late payments to discrepancies in accessing mental-health care services.
"We have found across a couple of different CRPGs (Canadian Ranger Patrol Groups) where one of the rangers who had requirements of that type of help just easily went through the system and someone else at another CRPG who had a similar type issue had some difficulty in finding their way forward," he said. "So it leads me to believe that maybe the approach on the ground isn't consistent."
The review was originated to determine how rangers were reporting and tracking the injuries, illnesses and deaths of its members, but visits with patrol groups identified other issues.
Walbourne said one of the main problems identified so far is a lack of information about what services are available and how to access them.
"It led us to believe that maybe there was something we could do to help push more information to that group," he said. "So I decided I'd start off and do a systemic review to see exactly what was in the environment and see how we could hopefully move that forward and make things better."
Members of the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, which includes Nunavut, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Atlin, B.C., as well as leaders of the Junior Canadian Rangers, met with ombudsman investigators during leadership training sessions in January, said Commanding Officer Lt.-Col. Luis Carvallo.
"They had access to them for an entire week for them to be able to ask some questions," he said. "We've opened their doors and we've been collaborating quite closely with the ombudsman."
The group has committed to including information about mental health services into its annual training sessions as well as during community visits, Carvallo said.
"We can push the information to them and we will start integrating that into the annual training sessions," he said. "We will integrate it also into the visits that occur once or twice a year into the communities by my instructors."
Similar information will be provided to the Junior Canadian Rangers, he added.
Once the final report is published, Walbourne said he aims to give a presentation to 1 CRPG. He said he also hopes to have the information translated into other languages.
"I want to come back to the North to release this report and we would like to be able to publish it in as many languages as possible to make sure we get the widest reach," he said.
