Thank you.
Thank you both so much for coming in and for having the courage to come to talk about this. While I share two stories, I will ask you to think about what would help you.
Is it that the Veterans Review and Appeal Board actually have medical people who understand this condition on the board if this goes to appeal? Is it having fewer contract workers? I heard in B.C. that veterans had seen five different people in five weeks, because they were contract workers. Is it giving veterans the benefit of the doubt? Is it programs for the partner and for the children? Is it how often people see a psychiatrist or a psychologist and for how long? I will ask you to think about that while I share these stories.
To your point, on Sunday I received an e-mail from a veteran we've been helping for two months. The e-mail was very disturbing. I had to call the veterans' crisis line as a result. What he said in his e-mail was that he had been told he has to wait three months for help. Now, they're telling us it's a three-week wait in one city, it's four weeks in another and, as Mr. Beaudin says, that's if you live in the city. What if you live in a remote area?
He was told three months. He has PTSD that he has lived with for 10 years. I phoned the crisis line. I said: “This man needs help today. Can you get him counselling?” Then I sent him an e-mail saying, “Call this number, and if you don't get help, you call me back”. His response to me last night was, “Why did it take you intervening to get me the help?”
You also talked about PTSD and anger issues and not being able to get help because they don't want to deal with it, and I have another case we're working on, so you have really raised important issues.
And now, perhaps each of you could tell me about five things that would make your lives easier that we could do to help, that the government could change to help.