National Defence committee  We'll receive on average five to six cases of it a year. It's not the number of them. It's the major impact it has on those individuals when it does happen. We talk about a loss greater than 20% on your home. That's the magnitude of it. If a member moves and has a major loss on the sale of their home, we can very quickly put that member into a bankruptcy position.

National Defence committee  The last two reports that I submitted to the minister were the attribution of service report and the new service delivery model. The responses I have got back have given me some encouragement. He's saying the recommendations have great merit and they're under further consideration.

National Defence committee  Valcartier would be a prime example.

National Defence committee  Well, there is a negative connotation that comes with it. Sometimes people will experience difficulty in finding other employment. There is a personal burden of shame carried because of it, and because of those types of behaviour, people are not very quick to speak well of the Canadian Armed Forces.

National Defence committee  It would be much like any other systemic review. We plan flexibility in our organization so that we can do what we've planned in the business plan, but also have the ability to adapt and respond to any ministerial directive we may receive.

National Defence committee  That would depend greatly on access to the files and how quickly I can get a response back from the department. Usually there is never a problem. Some of these files are going to be quite old. We may have to go back to the archives to get them. That would be the biggest delay I could see.

National Defence committee  I wish I could give you a straight answer, but here's where we come from. If you read any policy in isolation, it makes pretty good sense, but when you put it in time and context and add the other contributing policies around it, it becomes convoluted. It's not any one policy that's causing me problems, but when you look at a policy that's had a piece bolted on to it because we went into a different theatre of operation or we have a different type of veteran today....

National Defence committee  Nothing comes to me off the top of my head, no.

National Defence committee  As I've said before, I believe the surgeon general's shop, because all medical officers reside in that entity, can do the adjudication of service. We don't have to send this to VAC. I also understand, and I'm sure you will hear, that there are complex cases and there are operational stress injuries that manifest themselves many years down the road.

National Defence committee  This office was created in 1998, so I have full discretion to decide what I'll investigate from 1998 coming forward. For anything prior to 1998, I need ministerial approval to do it. To answer your question, we have done pre-mandated investigations, Valcartier being the most recent example.

National Defence committee  Exactly. For anything from 1998 forward, we have dealt with similar types of cases.

National Defence committee  No, I'm sorry. I don't have that information.

National Defence committee  Right now, when a member is medically releasing, the first thing that has to happen is that they have to adjudicate the file to determine whether or not the illness was caused by service or the malady has been aggravated by service. Veterans Affairs Canada does that adjudication.

National Defence committee  I haven't seen any costings.

National Defence committee  My biggest fear is inertia. We talk and talk about doing things, but nothing happens, so that's my biggest fear. If someone asked me what keeps me awake at night, it's just that. I'll go back. It's not only Veterans Affairs and the Canadian Forces getting closer together to do work.