Veterans Affairs committee  I'm sorry, that's an estimate of the number that are alive in the country from using various census and other data that we've had over the years, and mortality rates--both traditional and modern-day veterans.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, you can order as many as you want, absolutely.

Veterans Affairs committee  The Royal Canadian Legion and other veterans organizations are making concerted efforts to reach out to younger veterans and to members of the Canadian Forces who will be veterans in the future, to encourage them to join veterans organizations and support the work of veterans organizations to enable those organizations to support veterans as well.

Veterans Affairs committee  They are sent to every legion as well, and they use that as a trigger for them to go into the schools in their communities to ensure that teachers are actually getting to see the package so that they can order the materials. It's in their interest, because they want to make sure the teachers are seeing their materials.

Veterans Affairs committee  Each piece of legislation has a definition of a veteran for the purpose of the benefits. In terms of commemoration, remembrance, the definition is anyone who has served, has achieved their military occupational certification, and has been honourably discharged.

Veterans Affairs committee  We are seeing a tremendous strengthening. I often refer to the years between the 1960s and the early 1990s as the dark years for remembrance. It was almost taboo in Canada to talk about remembrance. You didn't hear much about it in schools. I didn't hear much about Canada's military history when I was in school.

Veterans Affairs committee  There are many ways that those responsible for the benefits and services programs promote them. I'll talk specifically about how we, in our remembrance activities, try to make sure that people are aware. When we are organizing remembrance activities, whether here or, more importantly, across the country, we ensure that we have information available, whether it's brochures or people who can answer questions about services and benefits.

Veterans Affairs committee  There is not a list of veterans in Canada. There is no list that exists of all veterans in Canada. There has never been a business purpose for compiling one. In the government, we don't compile a list unless there is a specific business purpose for it; you have to have reasons for collecting data, under the Privacy Act.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you. Regarding the aboriginal languages, no, we do not have materials in languages other than English and French. At this stage, all of our material, everything, is available, of course, in English and French, but no, we do not have materials on remembrance in aboriginal languages.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you for your comments. I will start with your third question. Within our department, there are certain restrictions on promotion, more specifically, as it relates to veterans' privacy. We cannot give out veterans' names or details to organizations wanting that information.

Veterans Affairs committee  We have employees in a few places in Canada. For example, in the National Capital Region, we have lists of veterans who took part in various campaigns and battles. When there is an event to commemorate the Italian campaign or D-Day, for example, we send out invitations to the veterans who took part in those campaigns.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, actually, I can give you some of the history on that. Most provinces in Canada do have November 11 as a statutory holiday. There are, however, some provinces that do not, Ontario being one of them. It is provincial jurisdiction in that case. Ontario did have November 11 as a statutory holiday until sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, it is. If memory serves, on November 10 the torch will be in Iqaluit. On November 11 it will be in Goose Bay, Labrador. The torch is also going through many Canadian Forces bases. They are making a specific point of having remembrance as part of the torch relay on November 11.

Veterans Affairs committee  The majority were definitely from schools. The newspapers you see come in class packs of 30, so the total number of those pieces in the class packs was 1.3 million.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.