Thank you, Chair, and Mr. Minister and officials for coming today.
I want to go back to the Veterans Charter. I too agree that the charter is a good arm for us to use when we're gauging how we treat veterans. It's seen around the world as a leader, but you can always do better. And I'm a little bit disappointed to hear you say today that you're not willing to review the charter and have another look at it to see areas where we could do a little bit better.
One of the aspects of the charter that I'm talking about is the disability pension for life. I've got a couple of questions here, and real life questions, that I'd like to get your views on. The settlement dies with the veteran when the settlement is awarded. This means that a widow would receive nothing if the veteran passes away before the settlement is awarded. Question one is, what would you say to that widow when she would receive nothing because her husband passed away before the settlement was awarded? That's one of the flaws in this system.
My second question relates to PTSD. I've got an example of a 30-year-old veteran who finally realized that he was suffering from this after two tours in Bosnia. He went for treatment and after that he returned to his position in the military, but then the military told him that he was unfit for duty due to his past experience. It's not really a good signal to send to veterans suffering from this disorder who are not willing to accept that they have it. So what would you say to a veteran who would have this example, and how would you encourage them to get treatment for PTSD if they're not going to be put back to duty afterwards?
I'd like to get your thoughts on those two questions.