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Page 6 OctOber 17, 2016 • Law times www.lawtimesnews.com PTSD is not occupation specific, and symptoms can vary. Each person has a unique way of coping with trauma and seeking help. While the provincial legislation for first re- sponders may not cover every occupation where PTSD might be the outcome of a worker's expe- riences, expect that in another 13 years it will be more accepted and mainstreamed yet. LT COMMENT ©2016 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. 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That book — by Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire of the Can- adian Forces — told Canadians in brutal, exacting detail the effects now-Senator Dallaire experienced after witnessing the horrors of the Rwandan genocide. Fast forward to 2016. The term PTSD (for post-traumatic stress disorder) has been mainstreamed, where many Canadians are now familiar with the term. PTSD is a recognized condition "that can de- velop after a person has experienced or witnessed a traumatic or ter- rifying event in which serious physical harm occurred or was threat- ened," according to the PTSD Association of Canada. Now, the recognition of who can develop PTSD is making head- lines. Lawyers and judges are not immune to the circumstances that can lead to the development of PTSD. For example, a man who served as a jury foreman in the first-degree murder trial of Farshad Badakhshan talked about the symptoms of PTSD he experienced as a result of what he heard and saw. Mark Farrant's story has led to calls for more support services for those who serve as jurors. In this issue of Law Times, a feature explores how lawyers who represent different types of clients are approving legislation that cre- ates the presumption that PTSD diagnosed in first responders is work related. Lawyers also agree it might broaden the possibility that other stress-related conditions could be recognized in labour claims. Fighting stress injuries F or years, police officers, firefight- ers, jail guards and first respond- ers of all kinds in public safety and national security jobs in Canada have had to live through the horrors of post-traumatic stress disorders and oper- ational stress injuries on their own. How they fared depended a lot on the intensity and frequency of the injuries and their susceptibility to it. Nobody seemed to care very much about helping them unless they were threatening suicide. Soldiers were an entirely different matter. The military long ago began tak- ing care of its own and stopped equating PTSD with cowardice some time after the last Great War. It was seen for what it is — an occupational mental injury. Late last year, the new Liberal govern- ment decided the country needed better treatment of PTSD and operational stress injuries suffered in civilian employment. New Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed his old Liberal standby Ralph Goodale as the new minister of Public Safety and National Security. He sent Goodale a letter telling him what he ex- pected of him. Civilian PTSD and OSI were high on the list. Goodale was asked to come up with a co-ordinated plan to deal with post- traumatic stress and operational stress and present a report to the government. When the prime minister makes a request like that, you don't say no if you want to keep your cabinet job. Don Valley Liberal MP Robert Oliphant was put in charge of the 10-member committee, which held hear- ings last spring. It heard more than 50 ex- pert witnesses from Canada and around the world. They offered testimony of all kinds, which will be pivotal insight as the committee report now goes to the House of Commons. Committee MPs were told by experts to stop calling PTSD a "disorder." It's a serious mental injury, not a "disorder." There is a difference. Changing nomen- clature isn't always easy, and some com- mittee MPs are still using the old name, but they know PTSD is an injury. Another important thing they had to do was to define a public safety officer. Everybody knows police and firefighters are public safety people, but do ambu- lance drivers also fit in? Yes, they do! And so do paramedics. They are all legitimate first responders. Jason Godin, president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, pointed out to the committee on May 16 that inside Canada's prisons his members are often first responders, acting as police, paramedics and even as nurs- es on weekends. The rate of infectious diseases is higher in our prisons than in any other community in Canada and medical problems can occur at any time in our pris- ons. Prison officials are often first responders to suicide at- tempts behind bars. The committee was told that in Can- ada there are estimates that between 10 per cent and 35 per cent of first re- sponders caught in a crisis will develop post-traumatic stress problems in their lifetime. First responders see destruction, death and carnage on a regular basis, said Donna Ferguson, a psychologist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. First responders are part of a culture that frowns upon weakness and requires them to be "constantly stoic," she added. Randy Mellow, president of the Para- medic Chiefs of Canada, presented evi- dence that Ontario has about 8,000 para- medics and that "some studies" show that post-traumatic stress or operational stress injuries affect 22% of them. That would mean 1,700 Ontario paramedics have these problems. The committee, after hearing all of the many experts, decided to make three major recommendations to the federal government. First, Canada needs an Institute for Public Safety Officer health research; secondly, it needs an Expert Working Group to conduct studies; and, finally, it needs an advisory council to collect data, do research and send the information across the country. The committee even studied wheth- er the use of medical marijuana might reduce symptoms of operational stress injuries. Some sufferers have used it for "temporary symptom relief " in the ab- sence of a proper cure, a few experts said. Medical experts told the committee there have been no large-scale studies on the use of marijuana to relieve pain from operational stress, they said. The MPs made no conclusion about marijuana but still decided they had better notify the government about what they had heard. There was no immediate reply from the federal government about the find- ings and recommendations of the com- mittee report. LT uRichard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parlia- ment Hill. His e-mail address is richardcleroux34@gmail.com. The Hill Richard Cleroux

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