Veterans Affairs committee  What I liked about the mandate letter was the opportunity to provide an option for wounded veterans to receive a long-term pension benefit or a one-time payout. What I liked about it is that it respects an individual's right to choose, and at the same time, a business case can be made to see what is in their best interests.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. I'd go a step further and have those benefits and services clearly identified in a document on release, so that the release procedure includes a seamless process into, “This is what you're entitled to; this is how you access it” both in writing and in a counselling one-on-one briefing, so that these individuals are not left not knowing.

Veterans Affairs committee  Nothing is coming to my mind, right off the top.

Veterans Affairs committee  One of the things that crossed my mind is the nature of the injury and the age of the individual who has been injured. If you're looking at a head injury or you're dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, there can be some impaired judgment involved. One of the things that concerned us was handing a 30-year-old or a 28-year-old $250,000, with somewhat impaired judgment.

Veterans Affairs committee  I was thinking about a number of friends of mine who have done their service, they've incurred some type of operational stress injury, have returned to their home units, and the home units have been unable to appreciate the nature of that injury and have taken sometimes disciplinary actions or otherwise marginalized those individuals.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much. My name is Captain RCN (Retired) George Zimmerman. Let me first start by thanking you for the opportunity you've given to me to work with you on an issue that is so important to millions of Canadians, which, of course, is the well-being of our military and naval veterans in a just society.