An example is Wainwright. Every year there are about 120 or 110 registered. Say 100 will register, and 85 will make it. This year was the biggest, again, for indigenous veterans from across Canada, the north, I think as far as the Manitoba border to B.C. and up north.
In my conversations walking around, talking, introducing myself—I'm in uniform with my colleagues—and asking them about forward thinking. We live a day at a time in our traditional ways of how we pray or how we think.
On the side of concerns and that, the parents are there. The guardians and grandmothers are attending all of these graduations. That's your conversation right there. You get more from talking to the kokums and the mushums, the grandmothers and grandfathers, and the extended family than from the young man or woman. They're so proud to be there and proud to be receiving an award or something—no question. Out of respect, I always let them know I'm going to speak to grandma a little bit, and how are you doing?
We have a lot of support from Alberta and Saskatchewan. They're there full time. When they go home, I attend when they win that award. I'll go to it and be part of our Alberta society of veterans and that.
If there are concerns, they have a good team in Wainwright who dig into that and find that. They're not going to leave there with that. If they're not following that, they're going home. If they're going home, my question is, “Who's going to meet them at home?” They need help. That's where I ask the federal government to help in that capacity, be it NNADAP or any other program if it's drug related. There are triggers there, anyway. Those were some of the issues.
It's building trust with that whole group.