Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to begin another rendition of our veterans affairs committee meeting.
I'd like to bring a few things to our attention before I introduce our guest, our witness today, Mr. Chadderton.
For Wednesday, we scheduled a meeting with our Russian delegation counterparts. That has been cancelled. They were turned back at the airport. I guess there is some sort of issue. There's a lock-down in Moscow, apparently, right now. We don't know exactly what it is, but I'm assuming it has something to do with the spy situation between them and the Republic of Georgia. These are fascinating developments, which I'm sure we'd love to hear from our Russian counterparts, but they won't be here.
If people want to get an explanation straight from the horse's mouth, I believe the Russian ambassador will be giving explanations tomorrow here on the Hill for some sort of Canada-Russia delegation.
At the end of the meeting today, we'll use the last few minutes to deal with that and fall-out issues.
That being said, today we have our witness, Cliff Chadderton, the chief executive officer of the War Amps and chairman of the National Council of Veterans Associations in Canada. Mr. Chadderton has been a prominent spokesman for veterans issues over the years. He's been assisting veterans and children who are amputees.
The group of his that we also mentioned, the National Council of Veterans Associations in Canada, includes about 50 veterans associations, such as the Hong Kong Veterans Association of Canada, Bomber Command Association Canada, the Canadian Merchant Navy Veterans Association, the National Aboriginal Veterans Association, the Korea Veterans Association of Canada, etc.
I note that Mr. Chadderton previously supported the proposed veterans bill of rights and the appointment of a veterans ombudsman, and I imagine he'll have something to say with regard to the Woods committee and some of his previous work on related issues. I also note that he's taken a stand in favour of extending VIP services to all widows of seriously disabled veterans. And I appreciate his comments previously with regard to Canada's role in the bomber offensive during the Second World War and the treatment of that issue, or dealing with it.
I turn it now over to our witness. Mr. Chadderton.