Again, Mr. Chairman, thank you.
That's an important issue and one that we have spoken a little bit about this morning.
Just as background, Mr. Chairman, one of the interesting Canadians I have met on this job, who is very supportive of me personally and is many times supportive of the government, is Senator Dallaire. He is one of these rare individuals who speaks openly and honestly about his challenges and how he has had to deal with those challenges. As the minister, one can learn a lot by talking to people like General Dallaire. It's not that we're going to agree on everything, but we do agree on this particular issue and the approach to it. I'm very confident that the department has taken extraordinary steps to recognize the situation early, Mr. Sweet, because it's real and it's occurring.
How you really deal with it effectively is to see the early warning signs of members who are presently serving, so that when they do leave the military, it has been identified, hopefully, properly dealt with, and that counselling can be ongoing. When members do leave the services, whether by injury or by choice or by retirement, counselling is made available to them immediately and in fact in a lead-up to their retirement.
That was one of the weaknesses prior to the new charter. As we mentioned, it had to be updated to recognize some of these realities today. Some of those realities are present in the everyday workforce, if you will. There are mental issues, mental strain. Maybe it's the pace we find ourselves running at in the 21st century.
One of the points that some military people--Canadian Forces members now serving or veterans--have made to me over the years is that it's not just the bullets and bombs that we worry about. Sometimes a physical injury is easier to repair than a mental injury.
I am absolutely confident that we're moving in the right direction. We monitor those programs very carefully. We are always there to serve the veterans in those very special need areas. That's definitely one of them, no question at all; there would actually be no debate on that.