Good morning, Mr. and Ms. Bruyea.
First I want to commend you both for your courage and determination in standing up for veterans' interests in recent years. I have nothing but admiration for you. And you, Ms. Bruyea, because you were right there alongside Mr. Bruyea when he was going through everything. I cannot imagine that things were always easy with the injury and the post-traumatic stress disorder. My first question is for you, Ms. Bruyea.
We talked about post-traumatic stress disorder. Did you feel that you had enough information available to you to give Mr. Bruyea the support he needed and to better understand what he was going through on a daily basis and during the rehabilitation process? I am talking about information and support from the departments of Veterans Affairs and National Defence. How did all that work? What improvements would you recommend, especially with respect to post-traumatic stress disorder? The problem is fairly common. We have seen that over the course of the committee's work. We have heard about situations where soldiers who had lived through difficult experiences were not the same once they returned home. It is very hard on anyone who is living with an individual who has post-traumatic stress disorder. I would like to hear your thoughts on that.
Mr. Bruyea, you recommended that veterans make up 30% of all staff at Veterans Affairs Canada. Where does that 30% target come from? What is it based on? You called into question the lump sum payment, and you talked about the lifelong monthly pension. Have you studied the files pretty carefully? Have you examined the budget a bit to determine whether veterans with a disability would receive more money before the charter came into force or after? Do you have any statistics or insight into that?
You also said that Veterans Affairs Canada's head office was too centralized in Charlottetown and should be moved to Ottawa. What kind of problems does that situation create as far as services go? I would like to hear your thoughts on that.
Another thing you said was that senior managers were often the ones making the decisions in veterans' files. I have a health background, and I know that that is often the way things work. It is usually middle managers and senior managers who make certain important decisions. The employees who review the cases have less authority. That is an institutionalized approach.
How could things be done differently, in your opinion?