Veterans Affairs committee  I can give you two figures. The one we know statistically is that one out of eight persons over the age of 75 will experience significant vision loss. At this point, CNIB is directly involved with 1,800 veterans who have a severe visual impairment. My point is that the numbers don't line up.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, even if we just do the cut-off date at working age versus retirement age, let's say over 65 or 70. For someone with vision loss prior to that, it's about returning to work and retraining. It's about communication skills, in the context of learning Braille, learning adaptive equipment, computer equipment--voice-activated computers and that kind of stuff.

Veterans Affairs committee  To start with the end of your question, it is unconditional. From CNIB, our mandate is to work with anyone with vision loss.

Veterans Affairs committee  As we access Veterans Affairs, no, I can say there is not a requirement by Veterans Affairs for the person to prove the blindness was a result of a war injury. So there is not that requirement. For example, if someone was hale, with 20/20 vision, when they returned from World War II, but as a result of age-related blindness they now have vision loss, they are eligible for some services through Veterans Affairs—with the obvious provisos that the province pays first, and those sorts of things, which I'm sure I don't have to go into here.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much for indulging me. It's much easier having some idea of who's who, where you're sitting, and that sort of thing. It helps a lot. Again I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee today. I hope to leave you with some recommendations, which I suspect you are already considering, and a sense of the long-term relationship that CNIB and the veterans of Canada have had.

Veterans Affairs committee  Great. Thank you, Mr. Anders. I would like to start by asking all of you to indulge me for just a moment and tell me who you are. I am visually impaired and can't read any of your name tags, so I'm not sure who's who or where you are. Perhaps you would start, Mr. Stoffer, since I've met you before.