Thank you, Chair, and thank you to our guests.
I wanted to make a comment to my colleagues who are here, just in case they've never seen the impact that these dogs can have. I'll take you back to the last session when my Bill C-211, regarding a national framework on PTSD, was at third reading. We had first responders and veterans who were here in the gallery waiting for the presentation at the Senate, basically to make sure that it passed.
There was a first responder who brought their service dog. Obviously, the emotions and my anxiety were high. This service dog actually came over and laid across my feet. What an amazing.... It's so emotional, you know. The first responder came over to me and said that the dog had sensed my anxiety and had come to try to calm me down.
I've also seen first responders and veterans with service dogs that can sense just a slight change in their owner's demeanour, and then will actually start guiding the veteran or the first responder out of the area where the anxiety is being felt. This is something that is critical.
It's very frustrating because I've seen first-hand the benefits that these animals bring.
Mr. Holt and Mr. Lohnes, you spoke about B.C., Nova Scotia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, which have developed standards. Are these standards something that we can adopt nationally?