Thanks very much.
While the overall efforts of the department fall outside my particular area of responsibility, what I would say is that the department undertakes serious efforts to recruit and retain and to provide developmental opportunities for veterans as part of our ongoing activities. We do collect information on the number of veterans in the department based on the number who self-report. We cannot force anybody to report, so while we collect information around individuals who self-report, that can't necessarily be viewed as the full picture of veteran hiring in our department.
We have veterans at all levels of the organization, from the very top and throughout the full range of it, and they contribute a lot in terms of our understanding, our comprehension, of military needs, cultures, the needs of veterans and the way in which we need help to support them going forward. It's an ongoing effort, from our point of view, to make sure we can continue to support their post-military employment needs.
I would also add that as part of one of the minister's mandate commitments, the department is working on an overall veterans' employment strategy, which is expected to be completed in the next while and which will outline the importance of veteran hiring not only in the private sector but also across all aspects of the public sector and the Public Service of Canada.