Indeed, he has lost part of his life and part of the integrity of his person. Many have lost their legs, while others have lost their arms; still others are completely disfigured. What does the future hold for them? This raises serious questions in my mind, because I am sure you can imagine that it is not always easy. They have a whole life ahead of them. For example, they may want to start a family—they are only 22 years old—even though they may not have a spouse right now. And it is important to realize that it may not be easy for them to find a spouse, when they no longer have any legs or are missing an arm. It is fine to feel sympathy, but we are not all like Mother Teresa.
Under this program, the fact that they are single or have a family is not taken into consideration at all. I would like to go back to what was in place previously. I think they were fairly well served by the pensions they received before. They took into account that the people receiving them were single, or had a wife and one, two or three children.
I realize that we cannot ask for the moon. But what I would like them to have is financial security. I have even heard of cases where soldiers' wives have committed suicide because the burden was just too much to bear. We cannot allow this to go on; that is absolutely inconceivable. They do not deserve to be treated in this manner.
It is all well and good to say that they are offered a whole range of programs, but they always have the impression that they have to go and beg for things. Pardon the expression, but I would call this a “welfare plan”. That is how I see it. It is humiliating for them. It makes no sense. In fact, it is so humiliating and so complicated that many of them simply give up.
Right now, we are looking for the ones who are homeless in Montreal and Calgary; we will go back there because some simply give up. Remember that these are not people like you and me; they are extremely fragile emotionally.