Mr. Chairman and honourable members, thank you for the invitation to appear before you and present our findings on the questions posed in the committee's invitation.
I'm pleased to introduce Master Corporal, retired, Joseph Burke, who served with the Royal Canadian Regiment, with the Royal Canadian Medical Corps, and as a flight medic. He is here today to assist in the presentation and to participate in answering your questions.
Canadian aboriginal soldiers, sailors, and airmen and women have been involved for the past 214 years in the defence of Canada, the liberation of others, and on peacekeeping missions in many foreign lands.
Canadian Aboriginal Veterans are well-established on the Internet, with the CAV national website that is designed to be a comprehensive information resource for veterans, a source of information on military careers for our youth, and a wide-ranging video library of military history. The CAV national website has been visited by over 239,000 visitors since 2011. The CAV also maintains 20 groups on social media, enabling the CAV to make a major connection between our youth and our armed forces veterans. The groups feature pictures, stories, and many of the accomplishments of those who served in war and peace.
The CAV has a number of World War II veterans, a good number of Korean War veterans and Cold War veterans, and a growing number of new veterans.
As national president, one of my duties is to place telephone calls to our members across the country on a regular basis to converse with them about their family lives. Our elder World War II veterans, Korean War veterans, and Cold War veterans get concerned when they hear on the news that if their sons and grandsons who are serving today are injured, they are not going to receive the same level of care as they received over the years.
Our answer to them is tentative but hopeful that their concerns will be unfounded.