Are there any other comments?
Evidence of meeting #34 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was thing.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #34 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was thing.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:15 p.m.
As an Individual
My experience with family services was rather brief. I had a 22-year-old graduate sitting in front of me asking me about my family life, so that ended rather quickly.
We've fallen into this “cover your ass” scenario where everybody wants to make sure that they ticked all the boxes, “Look, there's my list.” He went through it, but the issue again comes back to the problem of PTSD. It affects your cognitive ability, which means, when I sit down and you talk to me, I probably won't remember half of what you said. Administrative incompetence is one of my bugaboos, and I will stand up and lose it rather quickly.
It's difficult for us as members, but I think, when you speak about family services, the biggest service you can do is to put Jeanette in contact with other women who are going through the same thing. By offering that, she feels that she's not alone. We've talked at length about our groups and our ability to connect with ourselves, but the women are left behind and by providing services to the family on that level....
Again, the military has gone through a huge learning curve, from third behind collecting mess dues to actually being somewhat pretty close to where we should be. I think that would be the biggest benefit, but again this comes down to political will and a sense that you have an obligation as a nation to look after the individuals who have willingly put themselves on the line.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Neil Ellis
Thank you. Unfortunately, that ends our time for today.
I want to thank everybody for your testimony today. Thank you, and your other family members, for all you've done for our country.
I'm going to have to break. I know a lot of members on the committee would like to thank you personally for your testimony today. We have to come back in camera for five minutes. Again, the knowledge you all brought to us today has been amazing. I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your day today.
We will suspend and we'll come back in four minutes, if we could.
[Proceedings continue in camera]