Mr. Chair, committee members, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Ray Kokkonen. I'm the national president of the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association, or CPVA. I sit as a member of the Veterans Affairs Canada stakeholders committee.
With me today is Brigadier-General Larry Gollner, retired, the patron of CPVA. Larry sits on the veterans ombudsman's advisory council now, and also served as a member of the new Veterans Charter advisory group. Colonel John Eggenberger, retired, is our vice-president of research. John has a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Calgary. His main field of endeavour has been personnel applied research, making him an ideal VP of research.
Thank you for this opportunity to appear and to share our views. You have our written presentation. We do not intend to read it. However, we would like to offer some verbal supplements to the different sections, if I have your permission to do that, sir.