Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
To all five of you, thank you very much for being here today and for your service, Tim and Brad of course. And to Andrea, good luck filling Pierre Allard's shoes.
I have several questions for you. I'll ask the questions, three of them, and then you can just answer when you get the opportunity.
Tim, when you were diagnosed, you were diagnosed by a mental health professional. And do you believe that individual, while they may have been enthusiastic that you didn't have PTSD, may have missed something? And were you offered the option to come back in six months to a year for a reassessment ? That's the first question.
Andrea and Brad, as you know, one of the saddest things to hear is when a veteran calls you and says, “It's bad enough I've got PTSD, and it's bad enough my wife tells me that I'm not the same man I was when I left, but it's when my kids tell me that I'm sick in the head that I can't handle.” So I'd ask the Legion to elaborate a little on what you do in terms of the family services for the spouses and children. I know in Sackville they're starting to look at it a bit more in that regard of allowing family members access to the service officers as well. Can you elaborate a little more on what you do for families in that regard?
To Janice, I just want to read this line to you, because it came from the Legion. I'm not blaming anyone for this. Just listen to this: “For example, in Calgary, the poppy fund supports a food bank for veterans.” It's the richest city we have in Canada, and we have to use a poppy fund to help feed the heroes of our country. If that's not an embarrassment to all parliamentarians, I don't know what is. I just say that as a statement. Coming from Holland, when I tell my relatives that we actually have food banks for veterans in Canada, they cannot believe that. They simply do not believe that actually is true. But it's true.
The question I have for you, Janice, is I noticed in a lot of the cases when we talk about post-traumatic stress disorder, it's more or less male-oriented. We see a lot of men talking about their PTSD. But as you know, we had that--and I forget her name--major in Afghanistan who unfortunately took her own life. A lot of women also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and like Tim, they don't like to be known as sick bay rangers. They want to suck it up, buttercup, and move on. Can you tell me what special concerns you're doing for women who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in terms of their transition? Also, can you elaborate on the transition between 3(b) release and those who voluntarily release? Because there is a big difference. When you're 3(b)-released, in a lot of cases you don't want to go but you're told to go, as opposed to a voluntary release in that regard.
I know those are a lot of questions. If you can't have time to answer them all, if you could send us back the answers in writing it would be greatly appreciated.
I thank each and every one of you for your work for veterans.
Thank you.