Concerning the Use of Military for "Wellness Checks" May 3-5

Dear Lt. Paul Verheye, 31 Canadian Brigade Group Public Affairs Officer and the Mayor and Council of the City of Goderich,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express my deep concerns regarding the upcoming emergency exercise planned by the Canadian Armed Forces in Huron and Bruce Counties, particularly in Goderich, from May 3 to May 5, 2024.

While I understand the necessity of training exercises for our military personnel, I am troubled by the methods proposed for this exercise, specifically the door-to-door "wellness checks" that will be conducted. Wellness checks occur at the request of family and only when an individual is unreachable. (https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/.../2020.../025/index-en.aspx). They do not occur, and have never occured at the behest of the military during a training exercise in Canada, to my knowledge.

When the family member requests a wellness check, a family member or friend generally accompanies the officers who are responding to the family's request. And as of 2020, these officers have training in crisis intervention and de-escalation and are accompanied by a mental health professional at the time of the wellness check.

Wellness checks have a history of not going well, resulting in death and injury and devastating grief to the family members who requested the wellness check with the best of intentions and concern.

We have all just come through 4 years of a pandemic. The media reminds us every day that we are in the midst of a mental health crisis in Canada with many of our citizens still grappling with the fallout from the pandemic on so many levels such as marriage breakups, poverty, homelessness, rising prices, access to health care etc.

I am very concerned that the presence of uniformed military personnel on someone's doorstep is going to trigger a tragic incident.

We live in our homes and keep to ourselves for a reason, especially those of us with mental health issues. That reason is we , as Canadians, trust and understand that we are safe on our properties and we are safe in our homes.

As the daughter of a WWII veteran, I completely understand and respect the role of the military. Indeed, if I was snowed in by a blizzard, I would be more than happy to see some military assistance come to my door with snow shovels.

But the " wellness checks" exercise you are proposing is something that has never been done before in this country by our military as part of an exercise: wellness checks should only occur at the specific request of a family member and /or when a true emergency situation exists...such as the snowstorm in Newfoundland in January 2020 when the military were called in to help.

I appreciate your attention to this matter and sincerely hope the " wellness check" component of this exercise will be removed. Perhaps the "wellness check" could be replaced with a role-playing exercise instead?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

The daughter (author) and grand daughter of WWll Veteran, Jack Patterson, Algonquin Regiment.

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/.../minister.../jack-patterson

Sent to:

paul.verheye@forces.gc.ca,

tbazinet@goderich.ca,

lnoel@goderich.ca,

rcarroll@goderich.ca,

lpetrie@goderich.ca,

asegeren@goderich.ca,

jthompson@goderich.ca,

vkelly@goderich.ca