Veterans Affairs committee  —and integrated services, under our determinants of health framework.

Veterans Affairs committee  Oh, yes, it has, but we have almost certainly had our last meeting, because there is a move afoot to come up with an integrated advisory council, which will bring together a number of the people who are on the Gerontological Advisory Council now and then the people from the new Veterans Charter advisory group and representatives from the mental health advisory committee, although that will remain a separate committee.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct. And I've written the minister--not the current minister--twice expressing our unhappiness.

Veterans Affairs committee  Just to preface my remarks on this, I would like to say that I think our report had a significant impact within the VAC bureaucracy, if you will, in helping to move the culture in the direction of our recommendations. We think the bureaucrats in Veterans Affairs--the ones we deal with at, least--seem very supportive of all of this.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.

Veterans Affairs committee  I do, Mr. Chairman.

Veterans Affairs committee  They're probably right on 10 minutes--I tried.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairperson and the standing committee, for giving me this opportunity to come before you once again. As you know, I have served as the chair of the Gerontological Advisory Council since its inception in the fall of 1997. I'm sure you've all read and digested GAC's report, Keeping the Promise, which we released in 2006.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much. I've really appreciated the chance to talk with you. Goodbye.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, it may be related to things like.... Again, I'm not a medical doctor, but we do have Dr. Robin Poole, who is an expert on these things, on our council, and he probably would have better theories than me. I imagine that if you're trudging through Normandy, or maybe worse, trudging through the mountains of Sicily and Italy, as the Canadian army did, that could be a pretty rough life.

Veterans Affairs committee  In the chart it refers to diagnoses of arthritis and rheumatism. But as the report says, “Arthritis may be more common in older veterans than in the population at large because injuries to joints, particularly the knees, ankles, hips, shoulders, hands, spines and feet, usually cause the onset of osteoarthritis in later life”.

Veterans Affairs committee  Again, I'm handicapped as a sociologist here; you're beyond my expertise. But as I said, we do have Dr. Poole. There are other physicians as well, but Dr. Poole is on the council, and he's really one of Canada's leading experts in arthritis, in fact. He's part of the Canadian Arthritis Network of the Canadian institutes for aging and health.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely it is. As I said, you'll find the veterans groups big allies in this, including this report. They've read it, they know it, and they support it. We really do have this sense of urgency. In fact, I really regret that I didn't move the council forward to produce this report ten years ago instead of waiting as long as we did.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you. I wish I could be there.