I appreciate the innovation and the efforts made to be innovative. When you talk about catch-up, you've identified that it's because more veterans are coming forward, but also you're playing catch-up because there were huge cuts to the department in 2012. Those cuts are going to create a backlog.
What we're hearing is that the department is not adequately resourced to deal with the backlog from 2012. When you have cuts such as that, of course you're going to be cutting in terms of service levels. We saw that with the ratio. The government made a promise to get to 25:1. You're not there yet. What is it going to take to get to those ratios and to get the backlog to zero? We're still not getting those answers.
That's what I'm saying. Again, looking at the website, you have been told by the department that they're going to have difficulty providing core services. I would like to see the department come back with what you need to make sure you're delivering the mandate.
My next question is around the lack of post-traumatic stress injury treatment. We know the significant contributing factor to some recent deaths by suicide of our veterans has been the need for PTSD centres. We heard from veterans loud and clear that they want residential care. We appreciate the new funding that's going into research. Everybody does, and I want to commend the government for that, but we still haven't heard any news about a residential care facility.
In my understanding, the government committed to at least two centres, but the need is probably greater. We're hearing that four centres are needed, some regional centres certainly, and maybe some that could be culturally appropriate for indigenous peoples.
Is the government moving forward with a commitment to create a residential care facility for people suffering from PTSD?