I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 45 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Today's study is on the experience of women veterans.
Today's meeting is a hybrid meeting. All of our witnesses are here in person with us today. We have one member online.
Just for the sake of our witnesses, you might see some questions from one of the members online. Otherwise, most folks are here in the room.
Before we get started, I want to let everyone know that obviously we will probably be dealing with a bit of difficult subject matter, particularly for our witnesses today. I would remind everybody to make sure you show some compassion for our witnesses. They are going to be sharing some very difficult experiences, in some cases, that they've gone through. Please, show some compassion for them.
I want to remind everybody—our witnesses, members, everyone in the room and those who are with us online—that if anything you hear today causes you some distress, including, for our witnesses, the things you're sharing, if there's help that you need from this committee, we want to make sure those resources are available to anyone who needs them. If you feel there's a need for those resources, please see our clerk. She will help to ensure that you get the resources you need.
One other thing I want to let everyone know before we get started is that our witnesses have asked that, given the subject matter we're dealing with, following the opening remarks and the first round of questioning, we might take just a short break to allow our witnesses that opportunity. If that's okay with members, that's what we intend to do. We'll make it fairly short, but I think we have some time.
Ms. Blaney, you have your hand up.