Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you all for coming.
I can't imagine the pain that all of you are going through with all this. To say it's difficult to listen to is irrelevant because you're the ones going through this. What's difficult for me is irrelevant, but we need to help, we need to fix this. I know that.
Right now all I can offer is apologies and hopes that we can fix this.
Ms. Desmond and Ms. Elms, you were making references.... This is part of an issue I brought up and Mr. Bratina referred to as well. You put it very well, Ms. Elms, when you mentioned the soul of a soldier.
We've heard a lot of testimony from veterans who had problems, whether they were physical or mental, and they didn't want to come forward because under universality of service if they couldn't be deployed, they'd be removed. By ignoring these symptoms, not getting treatment, and concealing it, things got worse. They might not have gotten worse had they had treatment earlier.
Ms. Desmond, do you think Lionel might have come for help earlier had there been the chance that it wouldn't have been the end of his military career, that he might have been simply reassigned but still in the military, still part of the culture with all the services the military had?