I also want to thank the witnesses for being here.
I want to ask a question about how hopelessness plays into poverty.
I listened intently to your personal story, Mr. Wood. Your father, you said, lost his foot in an industrial accident, then was not able to work and had a very minimal amount of disability pension through workers' compensation. That affected a family setting—disastrously, apparently. If somebody is not able to work and they don't see any hope in the future, it affects their vision of hope.
Mr. Lewis, you also shared that there were people who had tried for a long time to get a job, had gone through training and were skilled, but couldn't get a job, and how hopelessness played into that. How important is it that we have people who encourage, professional counsellors, to help guide somebody who has reached the end? They feel stuck, that there is no hope. Mr. Wood touched on that. Then there's goal-setting. These are people who engaged with you within your life, encouraged you to set goals, and that there was hope, there was opportunity, if....
Maybe, Mr. Wood, Mr. Lewis, you could comment on that, starting with Mr. Lewis.