Yes, thanks very much, sir, for the question.
The department has 23 of these funds. Over time, folks have provided these funds for specific reasons, so there are ones, for example, for folks living on Vancouver Island, and for Edmonton and Ste. Anne's Hospital, or restrictions on how the money could be used. Of the 23 funds, there was only one fund that was kind of open-ended, coast to coast and for emergencies, so case managers, veterans services agents and folks from across the country went to this fund. It was drained on a constant basis, and we did not have an authority under our legislation, regulation, to dispense public funds for requests that were in the grey zone.
We would partner with the Canadian Armed Forces morale and welfare services, which I know a lot about from my previous life. They have non-public funds. We would request funding from the Canadian Armed Forces to top up that specific emergency fund, which was less than adequate, and clearly a government has the responsibility to reach out to these veterans and their families when they are in crisis. It was terrific when we got this funding, and we're making our process as expeditious as possible. I find that things get swamped in bureaucracy, so to speak, but the aim is to enable the most junior case manager, a veterans service agent who is presented with an emergency on a Friday afternoon at four o'clock or five o'clock, to say, “We're going to get the money out to you.”
In some of these cases, we're even doing the paperwork after the fact, and I'm okay with that, just to make sure that, if someone comes calling, we can put a roof over their heads, put some groceries on the table or address their no-kidding emergency.
We have found the difficulty is that what is an emergency in one location could be an enduring situation in another location, so every one of these cases is viewed on its own merits, but I'd also say that we have hired some of the best social workers, psychologists and nurses coast to coast who have a huge amount of experience, and we trust them to get on with supporting our veterans and their families.