Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct. There were one or two individuals who were met with in the initial discussions that took place last spring.

Veterans Affairs committee  I can respond to that in a couple of ways. In terms of the fact that we have had discussions internally about this, we've discussed this matter through our management committees and what have you. As a lead-up to the Veterans Charter, I had the opportunity to visit about 22 of our field offices across the country, doing basically town hall types of discussions with the staff and talking about how we are doing with regard to providing services to veterans.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, I don't know specifically. I don't know this for a fact, but my understanding is that Mr. Côté is a lawyer.

Veterans Affairs committee  Let me define what my role is in the organization. First of all, my primary role is that of assistant deputy minister for corporate services. I am responsible for the computer systems, computer infrastructure, human resources, property management, security, buildings, and what I would say are most of the non-program areas.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I believe so.

Veterans Affairs committee  From my standpoint, I don't recall whether the question was asked. I'd defer to the transcript. If it had been asked to me, I would have said yes. I think I would respond by saying that if I didn't believe in this, I wouldn't have taken this assignment. Specifically the reason this assignment was given to me as the corporate ADM is due to the fact that I have very little involvement with veterans programs.

Veterans Affairs committee  Certainly I will provide anything that legally I can provide to you, based on the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act. I'd be happy to. Mr. Chair, I can take that matter under advisement and provide the clerk of the committee, if I may, with any information for dissemination.

Veterans Affairs committee  That will be a Government of Canada decision. My role in this is really to provide advice to the minister and to provide research. At the end of the day, it is the government that will have to make a decision about whether there's one for DND and VAC combined, or whether there's one for all of government, or a special one for VAC.

Veterans Affairs committee  My sense is that as with many things in life there are pros and cons. There are upsides and downsides.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think what we want is something that works for Canadian veterans, because at the end of the day, this is about improving service for veterans. This is about making the situation better for those who served.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  First of all, once an ombudsman is put in place, that person would have to decide on the make-up of their team. My understanding is that at DND it took them about a year, I think, from the time that an ombudsman was actually named until they actually got in business. I believe it was up to a year.

Veterans Affairs committee  What you touch on is something that's very challenging. The question is, how many people are going to come forward and request the service of the ombudsman? Of course, we've looked at the Australian model, as was discussed here on Monday. Mr. Winzenberg is working with us on this particular file.

Veterans Affairs committee  You talked about Australia. Actually, the British model is very similar. They have an ombudsman for all of government. We looked a little bit to the U.S., but their whole system is so much different. They have something called the GI Bill of Rights--please don't quote me on the number--and I remember seeing the document, and it's about this thick.

Veterans Affairs committee  I can assure you there is no resistance in the Department of Veterans Affairs with regard to the creation of an ombudsman. I hear these comments from time to time, and some of them are attributed to me, but other than at this committee, nobody has ever asked me. In some cases, people are attributing opinions to individuals without actually asking them what their opinion is.