Veterans Affairs committee  I'll go first on this one. Thank you. Our council raised the whole idea of exit interviews back in 2014 in the report that we produced on the crisis in leadership in the RCMP. To my knowledge, and obviously given Nina's testimony just now, those don't exist yet. It seems to be such an important thing for the force, especially given the changes it says it is making, according to the chief human resources officer, which are being implemented supposedly as a result of Mr.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, thank you. I'd say it's based on my understanding of how VAC works, and as I've said before, I don't have any direct personal contact with VAC. However, it does seem to me, based on what our council has heard from the women veterans who were involved in the Merlo Davidson settlement and who also had occasion to seek assistance from VAC and use services and obtain benefits, that the frontline workers often create more of a barrier than provide assistance.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think that people who are, as Nina said, either doing an intake interview or are the first line that the claimants meet should have some awareness of the experiences and lives of women veterans in both the RCMP and CAF, obviously. Perhaps it could be a subject matter expert, or there could be additional training, just something to raise the level of—I don't want to say “professionalism”, but I will say it—professionalism at that first stage.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Sarai. I was not actually at the 2019 conference. I went to the conference that was organized this year in February, in Ottawa, that focused on women and LGBTQ2S+ issues, which was very interesting. I think what we would like to see front and centre is better training for the people at VAC who deal with women veterans so that they develop a better understanding of women's issues in the overall context of the different kinds of things that women face during their careers, depending on the work they do.

Veterans Affairs committee  Not to belabour the point too much, but it really is a question of lack of information and lack of education on VAC, VAC programs, VAC services. It's quite amazing to see that things haven't progressed the way we would probably have hoped they would have, even in the last 10 years.

Veterans Affairs committee  I joined in June 1977 and I left in December 1984.

Veterans Affairs committee  I left before the 10-year cut-off when the superannuation kicks in. It's no longer obtainable, basically. You're in, and that's part of your pension. I had all of mine returned to me, and as far as I was concerned, that was the end of it. My only awareness of VAC at that time was that it was paying for my father's yardwork at home.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. Maybe I'll just give you a little bit of background on how that all came about. There were no women in the musical ride, or even thoughts of having women in the musical ride, until 1980. In 1980 somebody higher up decided that we have women in the force and we'd better show their faces in other aspects of the force as well.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank the committee for inviting me to contribute to the important work that you are doing in this study on the experiences of women veterans in the RCMP and CAF. On June 6, 1977, I joined the RCMP at the age of 24 with a bachelor's degree from the University of Victoria.