Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I also thank all the members of the committee.
Thank you, also, my dear esteemed veteran colleagues.
On March 15, 2017, at 9:15 in the morning my editor called me to say that I was going to be a published author. The memoir that I had just spent the year writing, about my time in the military as an infantry officer, was going to be published in three weeks.
An hour later I was in the hospital, with what I thought was a heart attack. The doctors advised me that it was not heart attack but a panic attack. I denied it and fought against it. I said there was no way that I could be having anxiety or a panic attack, and yet they sent me home with antidepressants.
I drove to Charlotte, North Carolina, where my parents were spending the winter and proceeded to spend five days on their couch curled up in a little ball, thinking that my world was about to end. After five days, my father had the insight to call VAC. They said, “bring her home, and we'll take it from here” and they did.
In the next six months to a year, they put me back together. They got me all of the amazing resources to help me get back on my feet. Today, I am the founder and CEO of The Pepper Pod, a retreat centre for women veterans in Chelsea, Quebec. Two hundred women have been through our programs—soon-to-be veterans, veterans, and spouses of military personnel.
VAC made me the woman I am today to be able to deliver these programs. That being said, they're not perfect. I've heard from these 200 women, and what they are telling me is that we can do better.
I've heard that many of their disability claims are being denied or rejected because they cannot prove that some of their ailments—back aches or injuries to their knees or feet—were a direct result of their military service. That's partially because they didn't have an accident. I'm here to tell you that when you wear equipment that was designed for men with the weight bearing on the shoulders instead of the hips, that will injure your back over a long time. It's the same with the boots that didn't fit and the other pieces of equipment, such as frag vests that weren't designed for women's breasts. I'm here to tell you let's do better with regard to these claims.
I also have other recommendations, but for now I'll leave it there.
Thank you very much.