Veterans Affairs committee  There was nothing when I came out. Officially I came out in 1994, and—

Veterans Affairs committee  I didn't actually reach out until the spring of last year. I can't say enough about my initial case manager and my current case manager. It was Kerry Wilkinson out of the Hamilton office. They were fantastic, absolutely fantastic. They were knowledgeable. They had expertise and

Veterans Affairs committee  It's the ability to talk to a case manager—

Veterans Affairs committee  Oh. It's the ability to get past the initial phone call trying to get in. Once I talked to a case manager and she got it, wow, the services were there. It was fantastic. The difficulty is that it's almost like there's a filter that is very hard to get past. Once you get past

Veterans Affairs committee  Correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm actually grateful in that we acknowledge it now. When I joined the military initially in 1987, it was before you had mixed genders in the combat arms, and it was a very different military. I'm not saying one's better than the other. The Canadian Forces today certainly has a

Veterans Affairs committee  The idea of having the soldier transition once he's transferred out of service and automatically having a VAC case file opened doesn't mean he's accessing services. But it could be as simple as sending them a questionnaire every six months or once a year. I'm going to give my sup

Veterans Affairs committee  A veteran is a veteran. One standard, yes, please.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's important, when we look at the issue, to see if we can create a pamphlet or a template that will fix it. PTSD comes in many flavours. I'll give you one example, The general consensus in the public is, well, they must have seen their friend get blown up. But anyone who's se

Veterans Affairs committee  For me personally, I had a.... Our unit doctor actually gave me a copy of my medical file. He warned me back when I left that it would be a good idea if I had my own copy. That was the reason why I had it, and I wouldn't have thought of it myself.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, he was doing it because he knew my history. He said it would be a good idea that I had this if I ever needed it. I can't comment for the average.

Veterans Affairs committee  This brings in what I mentioned about mentorship and support. When I raise the point about stigma for the average person, if they're not informed, their image is either the movie Rambo or it's news media on CNN. Yet we have what we call vet-togethers. I attended one last Saturd

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Part of it is.... I think it's a multifaceted one. We need to celebrate the veteran transitions in the communities. If you're at a base like Petawawa, you can't help but see that this is a military town. But for a lot of people in my home community of St. Catherine's, the Lake St

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. We wouldn't even need to reinvent the wheel here, whether it's through the community colleges, the universities, or even through the local school board. Most school boards have a business education council. You also have adult ed programs or community ed. These modules are a