Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses.
I wanted to say to you, Mr. Upshall, it's interesting that you talked about the research that had to happen before the service dogs could be utilized, and the research took up all the money, so there were no service dogs. That question was asked early on of the assistant deputy minister, who said, “Well, the research is not conclusive with regard to how effective these dogs are.” I sympathize and understand your concern about this never-ending circle.
We're going to be writing a report here, and I want to underscore some of the things that I think should be in the report.
I'll start with you, Nora.
We're talking about the importance of the family. It's a critical part of a veteran's wellness. You talked about them dealing with the issues and the need to have the tools to deal with them. We've heard from spouses that they need training, specific training. How do I deal with and cope with and help this veteran, who is a different person from the one I met and married 10 years ago? We need marriage counselling, because marriages are unravelling, relationships are unravelling. We need mental health care for the spouses and the children, and that comes back to what you said about respite care, because you can't do this 24/7. Finally, we need access to VAC for better care with regard to the family's and spouse's needs. That should be in the report, yes.
The second thing—and it goes back to what Ms. Wagantall was talking about—is making sure, as the military ombudsman recommended, that everything is in place before that veteran leaves the military—the pension and the health care. Would more active involvement by mental health workers be an important thing to add in there? That's so that they're not financially vulnerable, so that they have these coping mechanisms for what is going to be a remarkably stressful, difficult change in life because they are, and always will be, military. They just don't have the accolades.
If we include those things, are we on the right track?