Doug Allen was born into a family of first responders and veterans. Serving in the military for 20 years was natural for him. Adjusting to civilian life was not.
“The experience, training and occupation of military members — in particular combat military members — does not translate well into the civilian world,” he says.
Allen, 49, served in the military from 1995 to 2015. He was deployed to Croatia and Afghanistan as a sergeant with the 2nd Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, and was stationed across Western Canada.
When he was medically discharged in 2015 due to post-traumatic stress disorder, he struggled to find work. It took him years to recover from his PTSD, he said.
“I found it extremely hurtful that my 20 years of experience in leadership and management, and also the experience of seeing things on the world stage, weren’t recognized or accepted by the organizations that I was seeking employment with,” he says.
Many veterans have similar experiences. Last month, the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs presented recommendations for a national employment strategy for veterans. It’s the latest in a long line of government reports that recommend ways to help veterans find good, meaningful jobs.
“Such hopes have been voiced many times, but what has emerged so far has not lived up to what veterans deserve,” the report says in its conclusion. “Let’s hope this time will be different.”
Contrast of cultures
Allen earned bachelor and masters degrees in social work while in the military. He spent three years after his release studying somatic psychology, which focuses on the connections between the mind and the body, often in response to trauma.
He often felt “misunderstood” by other social workers, classmates and professors. His understanding of conflict was shaped by military service — not academic theory. “They didn’t speak the same language. My understanding of the world was different.”
Now, Allen is an international educator focused on trauma, group work and cultural competency. He works with clinicians as far away as Australia, and trains veteran support workers who help military members struggling because of their service.
But he still encounters people who don’t recognize the skills he has as a veteran. When he’s asked to speak publicly about his experiences as a veteran, he has to explain that he needs to be paid to make up for the time he’s away from work. He’s learned that many people assume veterans will speak for free.
He knows a lot of veterans struggle finding work, which frustrates him.
Millions of taxpayers’ dollars are invested into their career and training. “We are losing that money if we don’t find a way to support them to work in the civilian sector,” Allen says.
According to the veterans affairs committee’s report, about half of the 8,500 military members who leave the service each year look for a second career. Veterans have a 4.5 per cent unemployment rate compared to the national rate of 6.6 per cent — but are more likely to say they’re not employed to their full potential, the committee’s report says.
“It’s not that veterans don’t want to work,” says Allen. “It’s that veterans find it very frustrating when they work in civilian employment. There’s a contrast of cultures.” Their experience often isn’t recognized. “It’s like they have no experience,” he says.
A veterans employment strategy was promised in 2021, when Lawrence MacAulay was the minister of veterans’ affairs. Ginette Petitpas Taylor was named the new minister of veterans’ affairs in July’s cabinet shuffle. Mandate letters, which list the priority tasks for ministers, have not been released yet.
‘Not looking for charity’
Veterans Affairs Canada has also said an employment strategy is a priority.
The committee’s 30 recommendations range from reviewing the Department of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada’s career transition programs through educating veterans about entrepreneurship to hiring more veterans in Veterans Affairs.
Veterans have a diverse range of needs, the committee wrote. Some, including women, those who served in combat roles and those who are medically discharged, face extra barriers to employment. The report says more research is needed to understand why some groups find it harder to find employment.
“There is no one-size-fits-all solution for veterans who experience difficulties with employment,” the report says.
Employers are becoming more aware of the benefits of hiring veterans, said James Hogarth, executive director of Helmets to Hardhats, a non-profit organization that helps connect veterans with construction unions. These jobs pay well and are good second careers, he said.
“Veterans like a structure. They’ve worked within a structure their whole career,” says Hogarth, who is not a veteran. “Unionized construction provides that for them. Beyond that, there’s a brotherhood, sisterhood within the military. There’s that in the building trades as well.”
Employers and veterans often believe “urban myths” about each other, said André Thivierge, co-chair of the city of Ottawa’s veterans task force. The task force is a catalyst that helps connect potential employers with veterans, he said.
Employers don’t know what military life is like. But veterans may not know what civilian jobs are like, especially if they joined the military very young, says Thivierge, a retired major with more than 30 years service. He says the military’s programs to help members transition to civilian life are improving. Now, personalized plans are made for military members who are about to leave the service. That didn’t exist when he retired in 2013, he said.
Transitions are smoother when military members are exposed to different career opportunities before they are released, said Eleanor Taylor, manager of community engagement and advocacy at True Patriot Love Foundation, a veteran support organization. Taylor said her transition to civilian life after more than 25 years in the military was fairly smooth. Before she finally left the service, she worked part-time with Pathfinders, a leadership consultancy company that employs veterans.
Military life is “largely insular,” she says. “We don’t have a great deal of exposure to what life will be like on the other side. It’s very, very easy to remain extremely busy right up to the last day of your release.”
“Veterans aren’t looking for charity,” says Taylor, a retired lieutenant-colonel. “It behooves us collectively to honor their service and their sacrifice by doing the little bit of work necessary to understand their experience and give them a chance.”
