Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stogran.
I'm the only one of the committee members here who was here in 2006 when we first started down the road of the Veterans Charter. I was very optimistic. I felt it was an action that needed to be started. I felt, maybe as you do now, that veterans were not given the respect they deserved or were not taken care of by the Government of Canada and a grateful nation.
But we had witnesses in during the time that we put together that charter, and the stakeholders told us what the needs were, and we incorporated those in the charter. We worked hard to put something together that was beneficial to the veterans. We knew it wasn't going to be perfect, but we had to get started. On the criticism of the charter, quite frankly, I have a little bit of a problem with it, because we did start it and we got the ball rolling. You can criticize it, but at least you have something to criticize now.
It was the same with the ombudsman. We decided that we needed an ombudsman to deal as an advocate for veterans because we felt they were not getting a fair shake, as you said, from the department. We put together your position and I was very optimistic; I thought it was a good thing for veterans. I really did have a heart to help veterans.
So there are issues here that we're learning about, and I thank you for the input and, as my colleague said, for the great suggestions you have now forwarded about how we can improve what we started. But ultimately we did start, and we had the best intentions for helping veterans. I think everyone on this committee is committed to continuing this, and that's why you're here today, sir.
One of the things you mentioned during your testimony was that you didn't really have a reporting person or connection to the deputy minister, the minister, or the Prime Minister's Office. I find that in a job description when I'm hired: I have somebody to answer to and to whom I bring my reports and my concerns. I find it difficult to believe that you didn't have something in writing that gave you the job description and said who you would report to and what your duties were as the ombudsman.
Was there anything such as a formal draft of a job description or your duties and your role as ombudsman and who you reported to?