Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our 49th meeting of the Standing Committee on National Defence. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we're going to start our study of the care of ill and injured members of the Canadian Forces.
To kick us off today we're pleased to have, on very short notice, Dr. Alice Aiken, who is the director of the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research. Dr. Aiken was co-chair of the 2011 Forum for Military and Veteran Health Research. She is an assistant professor in the physical therapy program at the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen's University. She does health services and health policy research in the area of innovative models of care and disability policy and is co-editor of a collective on military and veteran health research that was just submitted to the Canadian Defence Academy Press. She lectures in clinical orthopedics. She is the current president of the board of directors of the Canadian Physical Therapy Association. Both her PhD and master's come from Queen's at Kingston and her physical therapy degree is from Dalhousie University in Halifax.
We're indeed pleased to have you. We understand you were also in Ottawa earlier this week speaking at a breakfast on this very subject. Of course, this being Mental Health Week, it is fitting that we start this study off.
Professor Aiken, we look forward to your opening comments. You have 10 minutes.