Thank you for that question.
I think families are very important. They are not issued by the military. People have families. It is just recently that National Defence has realized that young soldiers have parents. If you get injured when you are 18 or 19 years old, they will be mostly the ones looking after you as caregivers. Yes, families are important. There is not enough being done at this point in time, although there are some movements afoot to bring some improvements there.
I think what is also important is the fact that, even for the healthy veteran, the family's transition is a challenge. I am not too sure that National Defence and VAC have the release and transition process in place for the healthy veterans. Certainly it is a good place to start and realize that the family is there. There is quite an impact on the family when you leave the forces.
I served for 37 years, and I moved every three years. We really had no anchor town anywhere or that sort of thing. To go from that kind of a lifestyle—and it is not a job; it is a profession and a lifestyle—to a completely new world is quite challenging, quite daunting. Imagine if you have psychological or physical injuries on top of that. It's even worse.
The involvement of the spouse in the transition process needs to be mandatory. Of course, it is always an individual's choice, but certainly people have to be encouraged to bring the family into the transition process. I believe that our research and the review that we are doing right now with DND will probably bring that to the forefront as well.