One of the individuals we met in Beauval was a 98-year-old veteran who had served in Sicily and Italy. He had walked over 100 miles to enlist, and upon his discharge, he walked 100-and-something miles back again. I posted the picture of this remarkable man on my Facebook. My community, Hamilton, has a large Italian Canadian population. People were very touched that this 98-year-old aboriginal veteran had gone to Sicily and Italy. As a matter of fact, his best friend lost his life during the war and was buried in Italy.
I was really pleased with the outpouring of recognition he received, but it reminded me that in most of the conversations we had, there was almost an insistence that we know and understand what these people did, and, as one man said, without an allegiance: we just did it because we felt it was the right thing to do.
So we need to get the message out, and I'm glad to hear that we're doing it.
I have a brief question on compensation. This man who walked back 100 miles was Métis. We were told that they had nothing, they got nothing, and they got no recognition. There was the suggestion of compensation. Is that a discussion that's being held among the department?