Veterans Affairs committee  It's a shame that only two veterans came forward to testify there.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm happy that there was a study, because that didn't exist for the 10 years we did it. I'm not happy with the conclusions, because a lot of them are out of line with what is actually written in the study. I know they sent it out for peer review to three different people. But if you read very carefully, they sent out draft copies for peer review; they didn't send out a final copy.

Veterans Affairs committee  They were pretty much the same documents. In fact, we actually provided them with more; they were obviously looking at this over a year and you guys are looking at it over a few days.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm sorry, three. A lot of it had to do with the fact that nobody knew. We found out through a veterans' advocacy website that this was being offered. It wasn't published out there, asking for veterans to come forward; it was an actual veterans' website, run by veterans, that brought it to our attention.

Veterans Affairs committee  When you're in the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Forces looks after you, and does a very good job of it. The day you leave the Canadian Forces or are released from the Canadian Forces, you are on your own. If you do not have a pensioned condition for Veterans Affairs, Veterans Affairs has nothing to do with you.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, sir.

Veterans Affairs committee  Patricia Horan was the doctor looking after testing at Memorial University. To do testing...I understand it's not like sending in a sample. There actually has to be a group of samples to be able to run this type of testing, whether it's 10 samples.... For them to cost-effectively do their studies, you need a group.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely, and the Federal Court agreed.

Veterans Affairs committee  I can give you one right now. Dr. Chris Busby testified before the Italian Parliament and in Britain as well with regard to the Stuart Dyson case. You will see his name quite a bit on the Internet if you Google. He has done exceedingly well in his research, and his CV is pages and pages long.

Veterans Affairs committee  I did. We are one of the only two veterans who did, mainly because they asked us about our database. My presentation to them was very similar to what you received here today, including the report the French did that showed depleted uranium and uranium are different, and that you are six and a half more times likely to develop a cancer as a human from depleted uranium than you are from uranium.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct. We provided them with the information with regard to the Phalanx firing. They added the words “in battle”. No, we didn't fire it in battle, but did we fire it? Absolutely. We fired it on workups. Were the members cleaning it without any protective gear? Absolutely, because it was considered harmless.

Veterans Affairs committee  The one that provides you the most links is the DU database my wife compiled because it already has the summaries from each of the reports. It's in Excel. The link is there if you want to read the entire report. They are all dated. They are all peer reviewed. They are all from around the world.

Veterans Affairs committee  I've had a very eclectic career. My primary job was as an airborne electronic sensor operator on a number of aircraft, and I know Mr. O'Toole is very familiar with them because we used to sit right beside him. I also did three years in command intelligence in Winnipeg, and in that time I was the field intelligence analyst in a number of countries.

Veterans Affairs committee  I've also done two tours in Afghanistan subsequent to that. I was in Kabul setting up unmanned aircraft for the Canadian Army under the Sperwer program. I moved to Kandahar and worked on setting up the unmanned aircraft, the Heron, the Israeli product that we brought in to replace the Sperwer.