Absolutely.
We will start with the elephant in the room. First, we would like from Veterans Affairs a clear written statement that all clawbacks from Merlo Davidson awards have been reversed and that no further clawbacks will be instituted. That's number one.
Number two is to be proactive. So many women were sent out to detachments where they didn't have a chance. They may have spent only a year or two and they're broken. This happened in the Canadian Armed Forces as well.
I can tell you that from the RCMP's point of view, women don't even know about VAC. They don't know that VAC is there to help them. Proactively, all women who were employed by the RCMP and are covered under the Pension Act should be notified in writing. They should be alerted about that and directed to somebody who can help them assess whether they have a claim and then help them walk through the claim. If they can send a letter about Merlo Davidson to every woman who ever worked in the RCMP, they can send that letter too.
Number three is to be proactive in asking the chairperson of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board to take a look at the existing claims within VAC for female RCMP veterans, because historically they've been given the lowest possible assessments. They're afraid to ask for a reassessment because the little bit they did manage to get, if they had one, is out of line, and if they put in the assessment, it says they may lose what they have. Their experience has been not to trust them.
As I'm told from a very good source, the Veterans Review and Appeal Board is fully staffed right now, so they're not dealing with a backlog. Plus, they know what's fair, so they could bring existing claims in line with what they would get and do that proactively.
Those are three things that I submit would be good.