Madam Chair, again, there were some excellent points made there.
I think the military has come a long way in recognizing that this is an important component of what we do when we do investigations of suicide and/or when we're looking at supporting, say, the colleagues or the teams that were around the person who has died by suicide. It's important that we remember to include the family as a core group who also needs to be supported.
I do think that we've come a long way there. I know that, as part of our effort, one of the things that my group does is the medical investigation, if you will, on the deaths by suicide. That includes inviting members of the family, and not necessarily just the spouse but the parents and other family members as well, to be part of that process of the investigation to make sure they are aware of what we're aware of.
Now, of course, I'm speaking of the medical investigation, but I know that similar efforts are made for the boards of inquiry as well to make sure that, as we learn more about the event and the circumstances around it, we're feeding that information back. But I would caution that there is often also a competing interest in making sure that we are maintaining the member's confidentiality, so sometimes our hands are tied based on the member's paperwork—but that's the best way we know what the member intended. If the member has stated in paperwork that one person or so-and-so person is their next of kin, then we are obliged to work through that person, which may not always be the people who feel they should be getting information.
I know that we still have challenges there, but as you can see, it is based on the very best of intentions to make sure that we're doing what the member would have wanted based on information that we have. But I certainly recognize how challenging and painful that would be for other family members.