I'm going to refrain from saying some words, because they are not very nice. When people are discouraged by the bureaucracy, we sometimes hear discouraging words that are not very pretty. Often, they don't trust the system anymore and they are sick of fighting against it.
Earlier, I was listening to Ms. Malette, who did a good job of describing what a family might experience. There is the military member who has major difficulties, there is the bureaucracy that complicates the process, there are the collateral effects on the wife and kids, and so on.
Ms. Malette is still with her husband. But how many couples give up and break up because of the complexity of the process and the lack of support? From that point on, I don't need to tell you that things go downhill.
As Ms. McLeod also said earlier, the homeless veterans she meets are not just people sleeping in a box. They have problems. We also help veterans from the Royal 22nd Regiment who have financial problems. We help them pay for groceries, gas and things like that.
With all due respect to you all, Ms. Malette, Ms. McLeod and I are in the trenches. How come we are all saying the same thing? We are all talking about the same complications that we experience all the time, albeit in different places. Ms. Malette experiences them with her family, Ms. McLeod experiences them in her region, and I experience them in my region.
It seems like you in the government are in a state of shock, like you have just learned this. That shouldn't be the case. There should be a network of crisis response systems. When you help someone who has been taken off the street or who is in serious trouble and you refer them to a help centre, that should be treated as an emergency situation.
I'm sorry, but it's like a sore full of pus. It has to be treated, and then the person can be given the other care they need. By the time we meet these people, there's a crisis. You have to respond immediately, and after that, you can take them into the system, start the whole process and make it easier for them.
We are in the trenches.