Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I'd say that. If it weren't for my mom, my dad wouldn't have gotten his small holding loan through DVA. It was so complicated, they even had to go to a lawyer to finish it off. My mom didn't know a lot of the criteria in there.

Veterans Affairs committee  It would be a good idea if we were informed. We're not informed about these things. MPs especially should be informed that they have a young guy in Afghanistan, or that he was serving and is coming home. I have friends who have kids overseas, doing three terms over there. Three r

Veterans Affairs committee  My dad got a house through the DVA, but his partner, who really got shot up in Italy--First Division--lived on the reserve and couldn't get a house. He lived in a log shack. And yet they were veterans of the same regiment. It was partly their own band that did this to them. The

Veterans Affairs committee  No, they're not. There's always something they didn't receive or that wasn't approved. It's a personal thing. But they're still not happy with the treatment they get from the Department of Veterans Affairs, to put it bluntly.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's right. Take me, for example--

Veterans Affairs committee  No, we haven't had the chance yet. He hasn't got it in place yet. He hasn't started it.

Veterans Affairs committee  Oh, certainly he knows; I was invited. And I have proposals going in on how we were mistreated and in terms of communication--as I've said before, that's the problem--between us and our veterans. We haven't got the funds to do it.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't think we're getting enough attention from anybody—from the politicians, from Veterans Affairs. I don't know; anyone I speak to, it goes dead. We've never even had an answer from the submission we made two or three years ago to government, to the Department of Veterans A

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, well, well, it's government. It's government. It has nothing to do with the way I vote. I go into that cubicle by myself—

Veterans Affairs committee  No, no, the thing is.... Maybe I'll move to Quebec.

Veterans Affairs committee  But I don't think that has anything to do with voting. The first nations people, or the aboriginal people of Canada, this was their land. There were agreements made for them, and I think they deserve it. I'm Métis. My ancestor came from France and married a native girl. That's w

Veterans Affairs committee  These are new recommendations that came from our organization, from the different provinces and territories, because they're different. As you say, communication is different in the bands. Even as veterans, they won't talk to you. You know how it is. It's bad.

Veterans Affairs committee  I've requested a lot of meetings with him. I haven't touched base with him yet.

Veterans Affairs committee  Oh, you mean...?

Veterans Affairs committee  No, there are only three key groups. But as I said, they handle their own group. They're funded globally, and some of the funding comes from Ottawa to them.