Mr. Chair, I would add to Tom's comments that all of our members are veterans or their immediate spouses. We also are tied in with a number of regimental and corps associations within the armed forces. That allows us, as Tom mentioned in his opening comments, to have serving members on our board.
On my own committee looking at the development of Bill C-45, the new Veterans Charter paper, I was fortunate to have two injured members of the Canadian Forces. They brought a special poignancy to the discussions, and the points they brought forth weren't academic. They weren't based on legal jurisdiction or who was concerned. They were talking about themselves and their families and how the new Veterans Charter was going to affect them in the future.
That immediacy of the input that we can provide is much different from that of, say, the Royal Canadian Legion—of which I am an active member, I might add—which has a large office here in Ottawa, is well staffed, and has a command structure across the country, as everybody knows. They have 400,000-plus members; however, their contact with the serving individuals is much less common than that of a group like ours. They certainly have contact, and they do a very good job in a number of aspects, not the least of which is providing advice to claimants for Veterans Affairs benefits.