Thank you, General, and thank you to your staff. I'm very honoured to be on this committee. The more I learn and understand the challenges our vets face, the more I appreciate the amazing opportunity we have here to continue to invest in making it a better experience for them.
I enjoyed hearing what's been happening and the recommendations that have been coming forward, and the opportunity we have to build on that.
I have just one thing initially. I had an individual contact me who is a caregiver for a veteran in Saskatchewan, my home province. She made sure to tell me that the Saskatchewan VAC front-line staff are absolutely wonderful. I think it's good to hear those things sometimes. She said the support staff there is just amazing. The ANAVETS program, that contact thing, is so important in our province, along with the My VAC Account. Those in our younger generation are definitely going in that direction to get their services in a lot of ways. They don't feel unappreciated or uncared-for in using that system. I think they see it as quite helpful.
This individual's concern was related to the delivery of services. We talk about wanting these front-line services there for them, but the challenge then is that we now have a medical program that we didn't have with the older vets, that we work through the provinces, and it's about getting those services. The psychiatrist who worked with the individual she worked with flew in from Vancouver and was remarkable. They will not be available to do that anymore, and there's this huge void.
Then I had a call from another individual who works in a recovery centre not far from a base. I believe there are a couple of veterans involved there right now. They have 30 beds, 30 opportunities for care.
I just wonder where the breakdown is on what we can do on this side, into the provinces, to encourage and find those individuals we're asking to help our veterans.