Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for being here.
Something that caught my attention in your presentation was that you said that your idea was greeted favourably by senior management at National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada. It makes me think of how the principal of my school used to react. When I came up with an activity program, he told me that it was a great idea and that, in addition, it would not cost much. That is what I want to discuss with you. I gathered from your presentation that the program has coordinators, who are paid, I imagine, but it mainly uses volunteers. So what you are running is almost a charity. It is made up of people who want to help their peers.
Here is my concern. Are those in charge of National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada investing money in this, or are they like my school principal? Are they simply encouraging you to continue to set up good programs because it does not cost very much and it works well. I think that what you are doing is good, but I am very interested in knowing whether you are being given the resources to really do the job properly. This is especially true since I see that you are not doing clinical work, but rather you are networking and trying to help peers who are also victims.
Would you recommend that the Standing Committee on Defence insist that the minister come up with more substantial funding in order to really help people? The approach that you are taking is different from clinical therapy. I see some people smiling. I think that I am on the right track. I have the impression that you would be onside with our requesting more funding.