Veterans Affairs committee  I'd like to address the issue of communication and accessibility. The new Veterans Charter was developed to meet the needs of the modern veteran. It is based on modern disability management principles. It focuses on rehabilitation and successful transition to living with the new normal.

Veterans Affairs committee  Good morning, Chairman. I'm Brad White, the dominion secretary of the Royal Canadian Legion. With me today is Mr. Ray McInnis. Ray is the director of the national service bureau. Ray and I will be alternating back and forth as we give our presentation today. Today we are going to make our presentation in English, but if you have questions, we can answer in French or in English.

Veterans Affairs committee  When it comes to serving veterans and their families, the Legion continues to be the only veterans organization in Canada advocating for and providing assistance to all of our veterans. First and foremost, we offer camaraderie in our branches. To ensure camaraderie continues after service, the Legion offers a one-year free membership to all members releasing from the Canadian Armed Forces.

Veterans Affairs committee  I, too, grew up with veterans. My grandfather was a company commander in Dieppe. He served with Lieutenant-Colonel Merritt, who received the Victoria Cross for his actions in Pourville. I knew Mr. Merritt when I was a young lieutenant, and I listened to his stories, so I know them well.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll give you an example. My spouse served in the Canadian Forces for 11 years. After we had our second child, she decided to get out of the military and follow me with the children. She worked various jobs all the way through because we were posted in various places. And let's be honest, Petawawa doesn't really have a lot of jobs for spouses.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't understand the first part of your question.

Veterans Affairs committee  As we mentioned earlier, everyone here is in the same boat. It would probably be preferable to receive— a family attendant's allowance —instead of a caregiver's allowance, which is— respite allowance We want something like the former attendance allowance, which was paid under the Pension Act.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think from our perspective, I agree with Wayne. We don't know how it's going to be implemented, so we have to know what the regulations are to see who it's going to apply to. I think we need to know that. But as I said in our statement, using the example of the military individual who is working his military job—his or her—sometimes they also work a second job, and the spouse also tries to eke out a living doing another job, so the family may have three incomes.

Veterans Affairs committee  I would ask how the government is going to relay that information to the Canadian public. We said in the last portion of our presentation that the communications aspect of the new Veterans charter has not been well done. People do not understand it. I don't think it is the responsibility of organizations to try to explain government policy.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, the Royal Canadian Legion, after every announcement, makes its own press release. Once we understand the implications of how the bill is going to be implemented or the decisions are going to be implemented, we will make our own press release, put it out to the press, and we'll distribute it through our command network.

Veterans Affairs committee  In the future when we start talking about that, when you're talking about the $70,000, as long as it's related to a service-related injury, regardless of when PTSD may manifest itself, that money should be available to the individual. But we have to get moving. We don't know what the policy is, what the implementation is, what the background is going to be on how this is going to be implemented.

Veterans Affairs committee  We've been at this a long time. We've been at the discussions, and the recommendation has been put forward from the committee. All the way through we've been studying this to death. We have some movement; we need the movement to keep going.

Veterans Affairs committee  Very quickly, and I'll turn it to Ray. We had asked for comparability with what civilian courts were giving out, and that would be a little bit more than $70,000, but I'll let Ray address the issue.

Veterans Affairs committee  Briefly and quickly, the ombudsman said 90%. The veterans consultation group, which the legion hosts, said 100%. We have 70% of 75% of pre-65 salary. We're not happy with that.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely, from our presentation, but as well we said we still want to meet those other conditions as we stated from the start.