Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
On Mr. Anders' comments on Beechwood Cemetery, consider yourself asked, Derek and Peter. I do believe that a request was made at a previous committee to look into that, and with Mr. Anders' submission here it is obvious it hasn't moved forward yet. So if it is possible to look into that, that would be great.
The other point I have is that you talk about commemoration, but—and that is just me--as I go around the country I don't see very much commemoration of the Boer War. One of the concerns I have is that this is truly the forgotten one. That was the first time we organized battalions to go to Halifax and take a ship to South Africa. Over 250 lost their lives in that particular battle. I would like to know what commemorations are going to take place next year for South Africa, for the 110th anniversary.
As you know, next Christmas will be the 70th anniversary of Hong Kong, and you have a lot on your plate in this regard. You have indicated truthfully that as the veterans get older they can't travel any more. My fear is that no one will go to visit these sites on very special commemorative days.
Will there be opportunities for people such as you and others to travel to these sites on behalf of all Canadians to pay tribute and our respects to those who went before us so many years ago? That is not just Vimy Ridge and Beaumont Hamel, what I would call the more popular sites that most people know about, but very few people know about the Battle of Hong Kong, about where our first VC winner was. He's buried in Ethiopia. A lot of people don't know that, and there are these kinds of things to go forward.
As my last question, I understand there is a push on to recognize women in the military in the commemorative events, what women have done in our armed forces. What they have done is tremendous history as well.