Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank each of the witnesses in this round.
I want to say to Mr. Miles, who's here, thank you for being here. Thank you to Mr. Thiessen as well. You have both shared an incredibly powerful personal experience with us. I think that was important for us to hear. It's important that this information be central to our report to the House of Commons and that, as a federal government, we play our role in working with the other levels of government engaged in this issue.
This is one of my great frustrations with our country. We are in an incredibly decentralized system where there's lots of overlap. Homelessness happens to be one of the most glaring examples of the disconnect that exists between the lived experience of people struggling and the various layers of bureaucracy—government, policy and ideas on how to address the issue.
I want to state very clearly that I don't think this is a partisan issue. I don't think it is a Liberal, a Conservative or an NDP problem. I think there has been a generational evolution in how things have happened in this country. If anything calls for all levels of government and people of all political stripes to come together—and not just pay lip service to the incredibly powerful stories we've heard here today and throughout this study—this is it.
As you spoke about your experience, Mr. Miles—I'll ask the same question of Mr. Thiessen—you also spoke about how lucky you were. With your healing, I couldn't help but think to myself as you spoke that it really wasn't.... It was lucky that you were able to navigate a system that wasn't all that comprehensive and didn't work all that well together.
Could you speak to us a little more about the power of relationship in your healing journey—of not just being a number, getting a bed somewhere or being part of a program? What was the importance of relationship in your healing journey?