Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, gentlemen, for coming today.
One of the concerns in dealing with World War I, World War II, and Korean veterans--mind you, we only have one World War I person left--is the fact that when they joined the service, a lot of them had minimum education. It could be grade four, grade five, grade six. In World War II it would have been a little higher, but generally these people aren't what you would call academics; they were just your average Canadian, working for a living, and they joined the service.
Many years later, when they became elderly and were applying for services, they had to fill out the forms, and sometimes you need a Philadelphia lawyer just to figure the forms out. Would you not agree or suggest that when government sends out forms or information to people, the forms should be simple to understand, easy to fill out, and uncomplicated? That's my first question.
As you know, some of these individuals suffer from what in the old days was called shell shock, but now it's post-traumatic stress disorder. We had heard in a previous meeting from people who suffer from PTSD that filling out the forms on PTSD itself causes a tremendous number of problems. I'd like your advice on that.
Second is the situation of money. A lot of these veterans, you know, are really self-reliant. They're stubborn and independent. As they say, “I'll shovel my own damn driveway”, but they have a heart attack and die and leave the spouse behind, and then you've got a problem, right? As you said, sir, they need help--today.
Some of the concern, of course, is that when they reach age 65, some of their pensions are reduced from other pensions because of the way those programs were set in place years ago. I'd like your opinion on what the deduction of their pensions means, what the loss of some money at age 65 means, and what the lack of opportunities for pharmaceuticals means, because a lot of these people require access to pharmaceuticals, and depending on which province you live in, you may or may not get covered for something. Years ago in Nova Scotia you couldn't get covered for Aricept, which is for Alzheimer's, but in New Brunswick you could, so people were asking if they had to move to New Brunswick to get this care.
Those are some of the ongoing concerns. No federal or provincial government is going to solve all the problems overnight, but I think collectively we can. I'd like your advice or your discussion on those words, please.
Thank you.