Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you both for being here today.
It's interesting that we started off this session talking about transitions, and continued to. It's interesting because almost every witness we've talked to has talked about the transition, particularly from regular forces to Veterans Affairs. It really seems to be a key part of improving the Veterans Charter, and almost everybody has talked, as you have, about family support and those sorts of issues. And I liked what you said, Mr. Fleming, about accessing the strengths and abilities of people, because I'm not sure that happens right now.
Some of the things people have talked about are things like caseworker continuity, for example. You leave the regular forces and suddenly you lose this caseworker you've had. You have somebody new; and you may have three or four, as people move and shift around. And that kind of thing is critical.
The other thing that was mentioned—and it seems to me to be a fairly easy thing to do—is ensuring that the day someone leaves, that he or she is automatically part of Veterans Affairs and given that number, because, as you know, many people.... For example, Mr. Fascinato, you may not really access Veterans Affairs for 20 to 30 more years, when you need something different that you don't need now, because you're a young man.
So the question is for both of you. How might that transition be improved? Second, there are some things I've talked about, but there are some things you might like to mention. The other part of that is, how do you think that should appear in the Veterans Charter to make sure that happens? Because that's just words. Someone still has to make that happen, but what would it look like in the Veterans Charter if we were to make sure that happened?
In Thunder Bay we have quite a large garrison, not regular. Some regular forces are there, but not many. The treatment of those two groups of soldiers is quite a bit different, whether you're reserve or whether you're regular. So I wonder if you could both make comments about those things.
Maybe Mr. Fleming, if you're ready?