Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
To all of you, thank you very much for sharing your stories with us. I know having to relive this every day of your lives goes to the old saying that for those who serve, Remembrance Day is every day, and to their families left behind, it's every minute of every day.
I'll give a little history here beforehand. As you know, the previous government, when the minister was there—and they were honest about it—said they would only compensate, for 1966-67, the agent orange aspect alone. I remember going after them, and the current minister, who was in opposition, Mr. Thompson, said the same thing. He said that was not enough. I remember very well the meeting in Gagetown when he said that every single person from 1956 to 1984 will be compensated and a public inquiry will be initiated. I remember those words very clearly. It never happened.
In fact, they did exactly what the previous government was offering, a 1966-67 compensation package only. For the life of me, I don't really think Mr. Thompson himself wanted that to happen, but somebody somewhere in the bowels of government said, “This is the way it's going to be, end of conversation”, and thus we had this out. I simply cannot believe the mistakes, though, that were happening. You were told that you got the compensation in the lists, but you never received it, and a civilian received $20,000 for carpal tunnel syndrome? It's incredible, and these are questions we're going to be asking DVA officials in the future.
My question for you is this. Just recently the Government of Canada announced an inquiry on the Fraser River salmon, which we had asked for and which we received. Many people from the Agent Orange Association across the country have called me and asked, “If they can call an inquiry on fish stocks, which is important, couldn't they then call an inquiry on the lives of people who served their country from 1956 onward?” That's my first question for you.
My second one for you is, have you had an opportunity yourselves to speak directly with the Prime Minister of Canada? I would highly recommend that if you get an opportunity, speak to him directly, as other people have done when they've come to Ottawa, and address your concerns directly with him. I can only assume that if the Prime Minister himself gets a five- or ten-minute session with you, I think maybe, just maybe, he might be sympathetic enough to get the wheels of government turning in your favour.
I'm personally sorry for what you and your families are going through. One of the concerns here, of course, is that we say agent orange, but it's not just agent orange, it's all the other chemicals that were sprayed before. Many people didn't serve in 1966-67, they served before and after, and they have died because of chemical spraying. I'd like you to elaborate a bit more on that as well, please.
Once again, thank you to each and every one of you for coming.