You know, you should also put in there “when it comes to crisis” because, fundamentally, half the time that is when we get Veterans Affairs involved—when Kimberly's husband goes adrift, when something like this happens. When I say “proactive”, I mean across the board. This is not only a matter of being active on the mandate of Veterans Affairs Canada, of all the policies catered for your individual case. I have found through experience....
A lot of the time it is not the fault of the workers. They are overburdened. They are trying to do the best they can, trying to cope, but they are not providing the services proactively. They are going reactive because of that very situation.
They are in a position where they would like to help. They would like to phone Kimberly up and say, “Listen, I have a list in front of me. Here is everything that your husband is entitled to. Is he getting this? Has he gotten that? What about your children?” All these things.... This is the most important thing. I believe it is the department's obligation also to take care of the entire family unit, and that includes spouse and children.
We have issues, I hear, where.... Kimberly says, “What about my children's post-secondary education?” Why do we have charities doing that? It is ridiculous. I mean, God bless them for doing it, but we as a nation should be taking care of the fallen's children and the children of those who have been wounded and are suffering, and I mean suffering. When I was addicted to opiates through my time, I know how sensitive my children were around me, the terrible impact it had upon my life, and there was no care. There was no support, nor did I reach out for it. I was adrift. At that time, if a case manager had phoned me and said “How are you doing? What is your drug input like? Are you getting out? Are you engaging and interacting with the community? Is there anything I can do to help?”, that would have changed things in an exponential manner.
We have new policies coming. We have just sustained 12 years of vicious combat in Afghanistan. We have paid the frigging price, and now we have expectations of the government and the department. Our expectations are not excessive. All we want is to be taken care of and be respected for our sacrifice and have our families acknowledged for their sacrifice.
Let me be very clear. The sacrifice from the families.... When we deploy and come back wounded, when we come back not the same man or woman who left that spouse, there are consequences. We can mitigate those consequences if we are proactive, if we stand forth and have a department that is willing to engage.