It goes to Mr. MacGregor's question. If you look at it, if you're going to reach the veterans who are still alive and you want to deal with World War II veterans—let's use that as an example—then you have to find out how you get services to them. If they live in Pinehouse, which is way up north in Saskatchewan, how are you going to get to them? They're not going to drive all the way there. They're probably having a hell of a time surviving on their income, but to drive great distances to urban centres.... Most offices exist, or more services exist, in an urban environment; they don't exist in rural areas. You'll know, if you come from a rural area, that there are no services, and most Métis people, especially the seniors and the elders, live in villages. Of our Métis population in Winnipeg, 50% is rural and 50% is urban.
Of the veterans who are still alive today, I don't know of any.... There are just a few Korean War vets.
There is one who is a Korean veteran, and I think our country did assist him. I'm meeting with him when I get back. He's actually going to die of cancer. We're honouring him at an assembly. We're giving him a Métis nation honour and recognizing him in front of our assembly. He will be passing away with the cancer. The doctor gave him four months.
He is a Korean veteran. I've met him several times and have never really heard him complain about service. He must have been getting some services from Veterans Affairs. In general terms, however, most of our people live in rural areas; there's no way for them to access them.
Again, these are people with low education; let's understand that very clearly. Some of these people had grade 5 or 6; they were young boys when they left. They never went back to school. They were trappers. They were people who worked in the bush, and that was their lifestyle.
That's why you came looking for us, actually. You came and asked us in great numbers to join, because we're good hunters; we're good with a gun. You came to ask us to help, and we came, but nobody came back to take care of us after that.
Today I think the challenge you'll face is how to get help to people. First is to get to the level at which they understand what's happening for them. The second piece is to actually have a dialogue and get into the issue of their concerns.
Some of the veterans tell me they couldn't get optical glasses from the Veterans Affairs department, so their son bought them their glasses. It's stuff like that. I didn't do research to check out whether it's true or not, but I'm going to take what they are telling me as true.