Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Of course, one of the concerns we always have is that when anybody in either opposition or government says they're going to do something, then you assume they're going to do it. I'm glad to see that the VIP has been discussed, because we have a letter here, dated June 28, 2005, to a widow of a veteran that said if they formed government they would immediately—and it used the word “immediately”—extend the VIP program to all Second World War and Korean War veterans regardless of the situation, and it hasn't happened yet.
That's an old story that we've sung and danced around for a while, but I feel in many cases that a lot of the folks with PTSD don't have much time; that PTSD will be with your husband, from my understanding, for the rest of his life; and that PTSD also affects the spouse. We've heard that before. But the concern we also express is that PTSD can be transferred from the individual who has it, not only to the spouse, but to the children as well. So this is a generational problem. And we pray it never happens, but your oldest may, unfortunately, without knowing it, then pass it on to his/her kids.
One of the problems we have, of course, is that as the Government of Canada tries to solve the situation of dealing with the individual and the spouse with PTSD, the transferring, unknowingly, of that PTSD to their children and then their children's children causes tremendous problems and unforeseen expenses down the road. What would you recommend to the government that they should do?
I know that you said Ste. Anne's is very helpful for yourselves. But what about the kids? When they call up looking for help, who do they turn to? If, for whatever reason, dad is having a bad day and mom's having a bad day dealing with dad's bad day, who do they turn to? Would you recommend to the government that they put programs or anything in place to assist the children? How would you see that happening? Or should that be a coordinated effort with, say, military family resource centres, with the province, with health boards? How would you, working in the health department....?
I guess I should word it this way: If you're the minister and you see a child of a veteran come to you looking for help, what would you do, or what would you recommend?