Veterans Affairs committee  You see, it's very hard to put a figure on it. I'm saying that because I have people in each province and territory...and the Maritimes. By giving them travel claims at the end when we have our AGM, I try to pay for their phone bill, because they're trying to phone all their veterans also.

Veterans Affairs committee  Certainly it is, and that's what I'm saying. It's not only aboriginal veterans; it's other veterans and other people. The elderly people up north who don't have the care won't say too much, especially if they're native. They don't complain too much. It's a family affair, and it's still happening.

Veterans Affairs committee  The thing is to communicate. Veterans Affairs have to communicate. We have nothing, and they don't communicate with us. That's the problem. As I just said, when I was with the Korean veterans, I wanted to phone all the veterans, and they wouldn't allow that. How are you going to--

Veterans Affairs committee  The thing is, it's not my job to bring that forward. It's for the Department of Veterans Affairs to bring it to another department. We're very small, as you can see. We don't make too much noise. But the Minister of Veterans Affairs should be passing this on to the health people to have a program up north and have communications.

Veterans Affairs committee  I believe it is because it's a policy of theirs not to let out any information like that on who they are.

Veterans Affairs committee  We went through this quite a few times. We've asked them. It's always the same answer: they don't have the staff to do that job. Do you know what I mean?

Veterans Affairs committee  They were people who were coming off reserve and weren't let back in. The government made that person, like everything else. It's people who were first nations people who came off the reserve and weren't let back in, or married off the reserve. They're non-status.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, that's what'll happen. The thing is, it is the job of Veterans Affairs to find a way to protect these people and to keep them in their homes as long as possible. I think communication between.... Well, everybody knows if there are veterans in their communities. It's their job to do this.

Veterans Affairs committee  Oh, certainly.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'd like to answer that, because we have the same problems in Saskatchewan, where I'm from. I myself pay for some of the rooms. People come down from northern Saskatchewan. Maybe their band will pay for a motel room for one night. And then they're back. If they don't make that appointment with the doctor....

Veterans Affairs committee  No Métis or non-status received that.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, there would be about 4,000. That's a rough figure, because a lot of the veterans didn't.... Even my dad you would never think was a Métis, because he looked like a Frenchman, and he could speak good French. Because of discrimination, he went on the French side. We were discriminated against in school, as you're probably aware, and that's why they did that.

Veterans Affairs committee  Mine didn't last that long.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, nothing's coming back from government. We've applied. We've put it in. As I said, we tried. Through the War Amps, we put in a submission to government, and we did that through Geneva. Nothing happened. We're still waiting for an answer. To be fair, it's to get the same compensation as the Hong Kong veterans and the merchant navy.

Veterans Affairs committee  The thing is, they had no other place to go, so we tried to work with them. Also, we'd get some assistance from Cliff Chadderton. We belong to that organization also, so we're funnelling through him because he has all the resources.