Thank you very much.
Mr. Chairman, we in the military have a saying: we recruit an individual; we retain a family. And we assist families as our men and women move out if they need support from the Department of Veterans Affairs. We also know that today the role that families play is more important than it was in the past when it comes to keeping individuals in the military and having a direct impact on that final decision.
To that end, just last fall the Chief of the Defence Staff unveiled a family covenant. It is a public expression of our commitment to our families, acknowledging the great work they do for us. Families are operational enablers. They support the operational end. Many times we don't talk about it, we don't see it. So we have put out the family covenant.
We also have a program that covers a number of areas during deployments. We establish a deployment support group at every base and wing where our men and women in uniform go overseas. That deployment support group maintains contact with them, as we have in Petawawa. Indeed when I deployed to Afghanistan in 2005 out of Petawawa and commanded the rotation, we had a deployment support group in place to support families. So that's one small way we assist, and there are many others that I'd be more than happy to lay out for you.
We understand the importance of families. We just had a family summit where we brought in representatives from across the country to talk about the program. They're extremely happy with the program, with what is provided, the role they play, and our recognition of their importance in the Canadian Forces.