Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First of all, I'd like to thank the committee for inviting us to your session on this very important subject, the review of the new Veterans Charter.
I am the chairman of the National Council of Veteran Associations, and I'm also the chairman of the executive committee of the War Amps of Canada. I'm accompanied by Derrill Henderson, who is our vice-chair, and is the national secretary of the Hong Kong Veterans Association, which is a member group of the NCVA.
The NCVA, Mr. Chairman, was founded over 80 years ago and today reflects an umbrella organization of some 60 distinct veterans associations, formed to ensure a strong and independent voice on issues that are of significant concern to the veterans community at large.
If I could just take a moment, Mr. Chairman, I would like to, before I start my formal presentation, just indicate to you that, as many of you will be aware, the former chair of the NCVA, Cliff Chadderton, passed away last November. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the members of this committee, particularly your vice-chair, Peter Stoffer, for the generous tribute that you paid Cliff in the House of Commons on December 3 of last year. This was not only appreciated by our organizations, but was also appreciated by the Chadderton family.
For over 35 years, I had the privilege to work with Cliff as the association's solicitor for the War Amps, as the secretary general of the NCVA, and also as his personal legal counsel. As you all know, Cliff dedicated his entire life to protecting the interests of veterans and their families. He was an inspirational leader of the veterans community and his tenacity and determination were legendary in the many crusades that he took up on behalf of Canada's veterans.
He was a truly remarkable advocate for the disabled, and particularly the amputee community.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, if I could just start my presentation, I did want to make that observation and record it for—