Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, we can give you the exact number.

Veterans Affairs committee  We have set up a call centre in Montreal to offer services to Quebec residents as well as to francophones in all the regions of Canada. With regard to general services, we have a district office in Montreal and another one in Sainte-Foy. Moreover, we have employees on the Valcartier base, and we are setting up a new office near the Saint-Jean base.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to report back on a couple of items that were raised and also to provide a clarification to this committee. After reviewing the transcript, and I refer particularly to an exchange, Mr. Chair, that you and I had towards the end of the meeting, I'd like to clarify.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's right.

Veterans Affairs committee  I went back to my staff and asked whether we could come up with some estimate of the number of calls that might be transferred, i.e., of hot calls from the ombudsman. It's virtually impossible to give a number, because the ombudsman's staff, as I testified, has complete access to the telephone directory of the department and of the experts.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's right. The discussion paper that was referred to previously was a discussion paper that was put together by the department. As I indicated in my testimony, there were numerous discussions with the ombudsman. I shouldn't say the ombudsman himself; I think it's very clear to be on the record that many of the discussions that take place between the ombudsman's office and the staff in the department are at an officials level.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, anything we can do to help a veteran is a good idea.

Veterans Affairs committee  We do not have any studies of that kind.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't, off the top of my head.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, the issue of homelessness was brought up by the ombudsman, I would say, probably--don't quote me--late summer, last fall, maybe September. He does make reference to that timeframe, when you look at it. He did say he felt there were some homeless folks out there, based on some of his early travels.

Veterans Affairs committee  We don't have an identifier in our computer base that says a person is homeless. We do have clients who we feel are at a higher risk because they may be shown as “of no fixed address”, so they could be at risk of being homeless or maybe not. Those clients would be managed through a case manager who would do the necessary follow-up.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, if I may, in responding to the honourable member I might note that my father also was a veteran. He served in the Second World War. I, being a Newfoundlander, note that my father served with the Royal Navy for a number of years and did a number of tours in some very interesting places around the world.

Veterans Affairs committee  I won't respond to the first part of the question . My comments are really restricted to what's in the order in council. Whether the ombudsman should be going beyond that is not a matter for me to comment on. On the Veterans Review and Appeal Board itself, the order in council is very clear that he can't interfere in the process or overturn it.

Veterans Affairs committee  Certainly.