Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, in essence I would have to agree. I cannot comprehend, nor can the private legal counsel whom we employed outside government, as well as my current legal advisor, who is a public servant, why we would not be privy to all departmental information. It's been argued that some departmental information may end up being protected under the Privy Council confidences.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I apologize for not being comfortable enough to speak in French.

Veterans Affairs committee  On the question of my role, in the first instance, what I have learned in the last year and a half is what an ombudsman is and what an ombudsman contributes to an organization. I must say, I am a huge fan of the idea of an ombudsman. I do not necessarily agree that the position must be legislated, but there does have to be a degree of respect for the role if we are going to have an ombudsman.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, let me just comment on the Leave Nobody Behind campaign and the homelessness issue. That's really the tip of the iceberg. The Leave Nobody Behind campaign was originally intended as an economy of effort initiative that I would dovetail with my outreach across the country to try to identify the scope of the homeless problem, as a first step.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, that is a very difficult question for me to address because I'm the one asking for the information, and there are a variety of reasons that are given that I can't quite comprehend from the other side of the table. I think one of the issues that has been problematic is that within the order in council that describes my mandate, we are restricted from reviewing certain types of documentation, and there is a difference of opinion between our office and that of the department as to what the definition of “to review” is.

Veterans Affairs committee  There has been a wide variety of frustrations since day one. In the first instance, learned advice was given to me by people who had opened a similar office that I should keep the doors closed for a year and open them up when I was fully staffed and had my procedures in place. But because the veteran community had been waiting for a veterans' ombudsman for some time, I decided we would go ahead, continue taking complaints from the veterans, and do whatever we could to facilitate change while we were setting up the office.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much, sir. Thank you for the invitation to appear before you again. My last appearance was in November of 2007, a mere two weeks after I was appointed to the position of Veterans Ombudsman. A great deal has transpired since then. Suffice it to say, however, that recent events have reinforced a concern I have been harbouring for some time now and working hard to avoid.

Veterans Affairs committee  Right, sir.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe that consultations will be as important for the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman as discussions with veterans and the complaints they will be submitting. Thank you very much.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I might say, in all honesty, I consider the bureaucratic maze to be a little bit daunting, and I couldn't get into specifics on how we might challenge that. That's why, to my mind, having a senior, experienced bureaucrat who understands how bureaucracies work, and whom I can bully and lean on, can assist me in cutting through the red tape.

Veterans Affairs committee  I can only say that as the champion of the rights and interests of the veterans--that's how I would refer to it--if they are poorly treated for voicing their opinion or whatever, whether it's not receiving the benefits and services they are entitled to as a veteran or they're being poorly treated because of something they said...to me it's seamless; I will champion the rights and interests of the veteran.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, once again, that's speculative in terms of the specificity of that particular case, but I'm quite confident that both I and the DND ombudsman, Monsieur Côté, are of like mind, that the client comes first. Also, without exposing myself to the details of his investigations, he has dabbled in issues that affect veterans.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, first of all, regarding Mr. Bill Tanner, I'm off to Calgary next week, and I'm adding an extra leg to my trip to go to Peachland to visit Mr. Tanner as well as Ken Barwise, both of whom came to my attention very early in my tenure as being people I should meet with. So I look forward to meeting Mr.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I would have to add to my last comment that the third hallmark would be independence, one that I will protect vigorously. I can say without hesitation that I have been totally independent to date. The staff that has been assigned, a few staff members who've been seconded to the ombudsman position and consider themselves seconded in the plainest definition of the word, have been laying the groundwork for my approval.