Veterans Affairs committee  In our discussions with soldiers who have been disabled, we found that in many cases it's taken two or three years for them to be discharged from the army. The basic problem was that the army itself doesn't really have anything for disabled soldiers. They don't really know what to do with them.

Veterans Affairs committee  As stated before, we provided some recommendations. One was the one I've mentioned several times, getting away from for-profit insurance and replacing it with a military pension. If you're disabled, you receive an accelerated pension because of the shortening of your career. Your normal career would span 30 years.

Veterans Affairs committee  As we indicated before, we believe there should be accelerated retirement programs for people leaving the forces through disability, to give them the basic financial background, and that the services they receive from VAC, if there are any further monetary items or allowances, don't affect their basic background.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, there are quite a few. The Department of National Defence has a high turnover, and it has found that aboriginal people tend to stay in the forces. They tend to be loyal. As a result of that, it has brought on these programs for youth, as I mentioned before, the summer programs, Raven, Bold Eagle, Black Bear, introduced just the other year, in the east, the ALOY program, and the pre-employment program.

Veterans Affairs committee  No.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, that was the problem. At the end of the war, when they returned back to their reserves, they came under Indian Affairs in those days, of course. Well, Indian Affairs had no programs for veterans. The mainstream of veterans came under Veterans Affairs when they came out. That was the difference, but today where they live is not that important.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, most of those we're familiar with deal directly with Veterans Affairs Canada. They can be on reserves. We've just arranged a stairlift for a Vernon first nation World War II veteran. The way the house was built, he had to get himself upstairs in order to get access, so we had our regional officer there contact VAC.

Veterans Affairs committee  That would probably be based on the area and the requirement for money. When you have a single parent and they've received a disability, depending on its severity, they may not be able to look after that child. Depending on where they're based, they may not have family support. They could be in a situation where they're sort of on their own.

Veterans Affairs committee  We actually track all of our World War II veterans. We track many Korean veterans, because the national association is here, and then there are the provincial associations—they're all members there—and between the two layers we keep track of all our members. We're looking particularly for elders who, like this, need VIP.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, we would have to refer back to our actual recommendations on the VAC and post-release side of the equation. In one recommendation, we're focused on the pre-release. What we're saying is that currently there is for-profit insurance provided through Manulife. The acronym is SISIP.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  All right.

Veterans Affairs committee  My name is Richard Blackwolf. I'm the national president of the Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and Serving Members Association. We thank you for the invitation to appear today to provide a summary of our history and current endeavours. Aboriginals cite the War of 1812 as our commencement of military service to Canada.